BAU: Book of the Dead
by Persephone Muse
Summary: Criminal Minds BAU finest pair solving a mysterious Egyptian curse!
1. Chapter 1

**This story takes place around Season 7, there will be no Alex Blake or the Replicator in this.**

**It has been a year since Emily had left the BAU for London.**

**Disclaimer - I do not own any characters belonging to the show Criminal Minds, only the ones I created.**

**.**

BAU: The Book of the Dead – Chapter 1

.

INTERPOL, London –

"Bloody hell, Emily, take some time off, you look like the Grim Reaper." Senior Officer Reilly smiled from behind his desk.

Emily was sitting in front of his office, her face _was_ pale as she sat stiffly in her seat. "You would be if you were being shot near your heart." She gave her temporary replacement and close friend, a hard look as she fidgeted within her loose fitting shirt; the bandages in her chest was uncomfortable and the stitches was beginning to itch again. "Is this what you want to see me? To nag and bitch?" She cast indignity aside and reached into her shirt and began to scratch her chest around the bandages.

"Er, what exactly are you doing?" He asked in his deep English accent his pale features reddening as he looked away from her.

"What do you think I'm doing?" She winced as she found the itch and then smiled as the relief came from scratching the itch off. "Damn, that felt good, almost as good as having an orgasm."

His face turning beet red instantly, Hale Reilly snapped his head back as he glared at her, "Emily! Really! Not…Not…here!" He began to look about him as if someone was coming in but they were quite alone.

"Hale…" Emily grinned. "You really need to chill. Quit starching your knickers and loosen up. Oh and ask dear old mom to stop feeding you those stinking kippers for breakfast and eat a little fast food for once."

Looking shocked, "Mummy told me not to listen to you, you're such a bad influence and besides, we're talking about you. Not me." He turned his nose up high.

Emily began to laugh at him, "You keep doing that, you gonna catch that frost on the tip of your nose, Hally."

He lowered his head as he frowned at her, "I wish you'd stop calling me that! That was a childish name, and a … a…girlish name to boot! You and I have outgrown them…Emmy." He broke into a grin at the last.

Emily laughed at her childhood friend for over 20 years, "I missed those old days, Hally."

He sighed at her, "As do I, Emmy. But we do have to grow up…and look at us now, playing spy games like we used to do when we're little only this is real."

She nodded. "Yeah with real guns, not those plastic water pistols."

They then broke into laughter.

Emily grimaced, breaking her laughter as the pain in her wound bothered her again as she moved her shoulders."

Hale sobered immediately when he saw her pain, "That shot was a bad one, wasn't it?"

She nodded, "Yeah, but it was worth it, killed that SOB."

"In the nick of time, mind you or you'd be the one lying on that cold metal table." He pointed it out at her.

"It's part of the job, Hally."

"And as a reward for this part of the job, INTERPOL has granted you a month's long of medical leave, and also this came in the mail this morning." He handed a large brown manila envelope.

Emily took it from him and looked at the return address and a wide smile adorned her face, the pain in her chest temporary forgotten as she eagerly tore the envelope, scattering the small bits of papers on the carpet, littering the otherwise neat and tidy office of her friend who rolled his eyes upward; he was used to her ways as he shook his head and grinned at her enthusiasm.

"I take it he's all yours, so to speak?" Hale said.

But Emily ignored him as she continued to read the letter that in the contents of a thick folder.

Hale sat there watching her indulgently and patiently.

Suddenly he almost fell out of his chair when Emily jumped out of hers and gave a loud whooped!

"Heavens! My heart!" Hale grabbed the desk for support. "You should give someone a warning, Emmy!"

She came around his desk and grabbed him as she gave him a big hug, "It's all legal, Hally!" She shouted as kissed him on his semi-bald head several times and stopped when his stern secretary burst into the room, "What is the meaning of this, Officer Reilly?"

They stopped in their tracks and straightened and stood properly.

"Oh, it's nothing, Mrs. Mills. We're just celebrating something important." Hale tried to straighten his tie.

Mrs. Mills glared at Emily before she retreated back into her office.

"She really frightens me." Emily said as she stood next to her friend.

"She frightens everyone, even the Prime Minister." Hale said with a grin. "We call her the Dragon Lady."

"Very apt."Then she turned back and faced him, "But back to this!" She waved the papers at him. "It's done! I have him!"

"Congratulations, Emmy. I'm glad for you. Goodness knows you deserved it."

She nodded as she became teary. "Yeah, he's going to be so happy when I tell him." She turned back to look at him.

"Hey, none of that, Princess Emmy," he gathered her into his arms and patted her.

She wept as he continued to pat her, "I know, it's a good thing. I'm happy."

Then she pulled away from him as she wiped her tears and chuckled, shaking her head.

"I'm going back to Virginia and bring him here to live. He'll like it."

"Well you have a month's medical so why don't you take your time and enjoy yourself there, check up on your old friends? It's been what? Half a year?"

She nodded, "Two years! Twelve long months since I've been with INTERPOL. I hope the guys still remember me."

"You kept in touch with them?" he asked.

"Oh yes, every week…well, when they're not out on the field. But we still do." Emily smiled.

"Then go! Go and see them and bring him home here, I'd love to meet him when you come back. Chelsea would too."

Emily grinned, "Chels would probably fatten him up, if I didn't know her better!"

"That she would and Mummy too."

"Yes, between your mother and your wife, I don't know who would indulge him more!"

The both grinned and exclaimed at the same time, "Both!"

"Will you get out of here, and leave me to my work now Emmy?" Hale smiled.

Emily gathered her papers as she stuffed them back into the envelope, "I'm out of here, Hally! Out of the country for the matter and maybe some R&R!"

"Yes, rest up! But no drinking! I'm tired of having to bail you out from the boys' house."

She grinned, "Hally, those days are over! When I come home, I'll be a whole new person with a new responsibility! Later, you old stick!" She waved at the door to him.

He nodded, "See you, Emmy you old broom!" they laughed together as she left the room.

Alone in his office and suddenly quiet, he looked around and sighed, "Just like the old day, she'd come in like a twister and leave a mess as if she'd grown into a tornado." He looked at the carpet, which was littered with bits of paper and shaking his head turned back to his work.

…..

That evening as Emily was packing to leave for Virginia, she had spent all day making arrangements to rent a house for a month in Virginia and making plans to move.

In the mail, she saw that she had received an engagement party invitation from Garcia.

"Pen is engaged?" Emily muttered as she tore into the envelope and pulled out the thick card and read it.

It was Hotch and Beth's engagement. Garcia was the maid of honor and she was giving the couple a formal party to announce their engagement and the party was to be held at Dave Rossi's place.

Emily smiled, "Dave should start charging for use of his mansion whenever we get together for stuff like this, he'd make a ton of moolah!" She was on the phone with Garcia as soon as she received it.

_Hey! Didn't expect you to call so soon!_ Penelope gushed.

"I just got it, PG. Nice paper. I should be there, so I'm RSVP'ing you personally."

_What? You're coming to the dig? You don't have to, Em. I mean it's just only an engagement party._

"I know but I'm flying into Virginia tomorrow and spending a month there."

_Why? What's going on?_

"Well, you know the thing I've been telling you about? It's official."

_Oh my god! No way Em? Seriously?_

"Way, PG." Emily laughed. "I can't tell you how freaking happy I am about it."

_Oh, I am for you too and him. Are you going to call and tell him?_

"No, I'm going to be there tomorrow, silly. I'm going there as soon as I land, and tell him in person."

_Oh I wish I'm there to see it! It's gonna be so beautiful!_

"You're not tearing, are you?"

_Too late…you know how sappy I get over these things!_ She said weepily.

Emily chuckled, "I know how you feel."

_So, you're going to stay for how long?_

"A month. We have to pack and get his stuff ready and moved over here, so I figure a month is plenty of time to do that and enjoy ourselves."

_He is going to be over the moon!_ Garcia exclaimed excitedly.

"I know, I've been waiting so long for this to happen, and so did he. I'll see you later, PG! "

….

The same day in New York City, US –

"Aaron!"

_Sean?_

"Who else?"

_What are doing? Where are you?_

"Er, here in New York City bro. He chuckled. And I just got your engagement invite.

_Engagement? Oh! Garcia…_

"Who? Oh…yah…um who's that?

_Long story Sean. So what's going on with you?_

"Well, tomorrow I'm about to hop on a plane and fly down to see you and my little nephew and spend some time before you take the big plunge."

_Sean, you don't have to, I mean it's just an engagement party._

"Aaron, how often do you see me?"

A pause.

_You're right, Sean. I'll be delighted to have you over. You're staying with us?_

"If you'll have me?

_Sean…._

He laughed, "Okay, I just wanted to make sure it's okay with your fiancé."

_She…we…Sean, Beth and I are not living together yet. Not until we're officially engaged._

"What? What kind of a prude are you?" He teased his older brother. "Aaron, this is the 21st century. People live together before they get married."

_I know but Jack…_

"I think Jack is too little to notice this sort of things, Aaron."

_Sean, Jack is 9._

"What? I thought he's three or something like that."

_Sean, it's been over five years since Haley's dead and Jack was four and a half at that time._

"Wow, where was I at all this time?"

_I don't know Sean but if you'd visit more often you'd be more up to date on your only nephew._

"Duly noted, brother."

Hotch chuckled. _So, when do you arrive?_

"Oh, don't worry about me, I'll be at your doorstep tomorrow afternoon."

_I can pick you up from the airport, Sean._

"Hey, I'm a big boy, Aaron, I can find my own way."

_Sean…I'm offering._

Sean sighed, "Okay…"He then gave him the flight information.

_Done, I'll be there._

"Just don't bring the bells." He teased.

_Sean…grow up, will you?_

"I know, I know. Act my age. Never, that's what big brother is for! I'll see you later tonight."

_Right, Sean._

….

It was a long flight from Heathrow Airport London to Dulles International Airport with a connection in New York City.

Emily was ready to move about on land after being cooped in the plane for more than 9 hours.

Luckily her companion from London to New York City left, she was quite the chatterbox; needlessly, Emily didn't get any sleep at all.

She was happy when Shannon whatever-her-last-name got off, grabbing a pillow from the flight attendant and a blanket, she made to take a nap for the rest of the duration from New York City to Washington which was a short hop but a nap was all she needed to fuel up before the big and exciting moment.

Just as her eyes closed, she heard movement and a jostling in her seat.

"Excuse me?" Opening one eye, she saw a quite tall slim man with a beard standing next to her. "I believe that's my seat over there," he pointed at the empty window seat.

Emily opened both her eyes and gathering her pillow and blanket she stood up and moved out of her seat and out to the aisle so he could shuffle into the snug confinements of the economy seats in the commercial plane.

"Thanks, sorry about this," he apologized as he managed to fold his long frame into the small chair as he tried to settle down as best he could.

Emily smiled a little as she took her seat and arranged her things around her again.

She tried to close her eyes but her neighbor began to fuss and move about as he seem to be looking for something and in the process his elbow kept hitting her.

At one point he accidently hit her shoulder near her bandaged wound and a sharp pain seared into her as she hissed instantly.

The man next to her turned to look at her, "Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to…"

Emily shook her head, "It's fine, don't worry about it." She turned her back to him as she massaged the pain out.

"Look I said I'm sorry." He leaned over to her.

Emily turned to find him close to her and leaned back, "I said, I'm fine." She said annoyingly.

He frowned at her; what the hell is her problem? He turn back to continue to look for his safety belt and saw it had looped into her seat…

"Uh…" he tapped her back gently. "Excuse me…?"

Emily rolled her eyes, "Really! Look buster, I said I'm fine, get the hint and leave me the hell alone and go bother someone else!" She turned back from him again.

"Look lady, I'd love to not bother you for the rest of the flight but I have to." He said angrily. "My damn seat belt happens to be hung into yours and unless you want to sit on my lap the rest of the way which I'm sure you don't, how about helping me on this and I promise I won't bother you again."

Emily sat up straight and looked down on her lap and in between their seats and saw that it was twisted about.

"How? Never mind." She unbuckled hers and unwound her belt which somehow made it worse and then reworked it again but the blanket became twisted into both hers and his belts as she tried to get it untwisted.

"Here, let me do it." He offered as he made to grab it.

"No, I can manage it, just let go of the belt." She looked at him angrily.

"It's not that complicating, lady. All you have to…"

"Look, I can figure it out…"

"Then how did you get it twisted like this in the first place?"

"I didn't do this on purpose!" She fired it back at him.

"Um, excuse me, will you two please put your seat belts, we're about to taxi out of the terminal?" The flight attendant was standing over them.

"We are trying to get this unravel, Miss." Emily explained to her.

"Oh, here let me." She smiled as she worked on it and less than a minute both belts came apart as she handed one to each of them.

"Thanks." They said to her at the same time.

"You're welcome. Now, just strap on." She nodded at them as if they were a pair of three-year olds and moved on.

Emily buckled hers and muttered, "I'll wipe that damn grin off your face so fast you won't know what hit you."

Her neighbor started laughing under his breath as he shook his head.

"Are you laughing at me?" Emily glared at him.

He turned to her, "You talking to me now? I thought you didn't want to talk to me?" He grinned.

Emily shook her head as she turned her head, "Never mind…" She smiled to herself as she tried to catch a glimpse of him peripherally; he was cute looking, she said to herself. If you like beards and he had blonde hair and very nice blue eyes.

"That's what I thought." He said.

Three hours later, using her INTERPOL credentials, Emily was able to bypass customs faster than the usual line and was soon in the baggage claims area waiting for her bags.

As she was waiting for her bags she saw a familiar figure and was surprised to see him, "What is he doing here?"

She walked to him, "Hotch?"

"Emily?"

"Aaron!"

"Sean!"

Emily turned to see Hotch greeting her neighbor passenger. "You know him?"

Hotch grinned at her, "Yeah, Emily, come meet my brother Sean."

Emily stared at Hotch than at Sean, then at him again, "This is your brother?"

Sean bear-hugged Aaron and as he pulled back from him, he looked at her, "Of course, didn't you see the family resemblance?"

Still in shock, Emily shook her head, "I…I…sure…don't. Was one of you adopted?"

They both looked at each other and then laughed, Hotch shook his head, "No, Emily. Believe it or not, we're biological brothers."

"Wow, could have fool me." She said as she went to Hotch and gave him a hug.

He returned it with a tight squeeze, Emily winced and pulled from him quickly, Hotch frowned at her as she smile at him.

"So, are you going to introduce her or not, Aaron?" Sean wriggled his brows at him.

"Oh, Emily, Sean Hotchner. Sean this is Emily Prentiss. She used to work for me at the BAU but is now with INTERPOL in London."

They shook hands as smiled at each other.

"Nice to meet you again, in a better circumstances." Sean grinned.

"What do you mean?" Hotch glanced at him and then at her. "Do you know each other?"

"No, "Emily shook her head. "We were seated next to each other in the plane from LaGuardia to here." She explained.

"Ah, I see." Hotch nodded. "So how are you Emily? And why are you here, if you don't mind me asking?"

She shook her head as she smiled at him, "First of all, there is an engagement party to attend to, so congratulations to you and Beth. And the papers have finally came and it's all legal and valid."

"You mean?" Hotch smiled at her.

She nodded. "He's mine legally."

"Emily, that's great! I'm glad for you! Are you seeing him?"

"Of course! As soon as I get a rental car, and I'll be here for a month before we move to London for sure."

Hotch nodded, "I can't be any happier for you two!"

"Me too, Hotch. And thanks to you, you helped a lot from here with your legal techno magic." She grinned.

He shook his head, "Glad I can help."

"Well, I see my bags," she walked over to the carousel and was about to pull them out but Hotch and Sean came in front of her and picked it up for her.

She had three big luggages.

"Thanks guys."

"Not a problem." They said.

They obtained a cart for her and later waited until she got her rental car keys that she had placed a reservation the day before.

"We'll give you a ride to your rental, Emily." Hotch offered.

She nodded, "Thanks Hotch."

He shook his head, "How about Aaron? You no longer work for me."

She nodded, "Aaron it is, and it's going to take some getting use after calling you Hotch for over 7 years!"

He nodded.

When they found her rental, the guys helped her load the baggages into the trunk before they waved her good bye.

"See you tomorrow evening at Dave's" Emily grinned.

They waved back as Sean looked back at her as she drove off.

Hotch pulled away from the rental lot and made for the freeway and headed to Virginia.

"So," Sean turned to look at his brother. "Emily Prentiss, is she single?"

Hotch began to smile, "No Sean."

"What? What did I say? Is she married?"

Hotch shook his head, "No she is still single as far as I know. But she is a complication you don't need, Sean."

"What do you mean complication? She seems nice, I like her."

"She is not into short time relationships, so forget it."

"Well, who knows? If she's the one and we click, I might make it into a long term relationship too." Sean smiled.

Hoch frowned as he glanced at his brother before he turned back to the road, "Sean, be serious. Emily is…special." He said suddenly.

Sean narrowed his gaze at his brother, "What do you mean she is special? To whom? To you?" He arched his gaze at him. "You mean you and her? What about Beth? Does she know?"

Hotch shook his head quickly, "No, no…I didn't mean it like that. She and I are friends, that is all. So don't jump into any conclusion, Sean."

"Then what do you mean about her being special?"

"I don't know why I said it, just forget about it. But be careful with her, will you?"

"I will, Aaron. I'm not going to hurt her."

"I hope not. She's been through a lot and she's finally gotten what she wanted, although something's not right with her at the moment." Hotch recalled her pushing him away when he hugged her at the airport.

"Always playing profiler," Sean mumbled under his breath.

"What?"

"Nothing…so, where's Jack?" he changed the subject quickly.

…

End of Chapter 1


	2. Chapter 2

BAU: Book of the Dead – Chapter 2

.

At the British School of Washington in D.C. –

12 year old Declan Jones was walking with a boy who was the same age as he.

"Declan, can I ask a favor of you?"

Dec turned to look at him as they were on their way to their next class, Biology II. "Sure, what is it, Amun? And why are you so serious?"

The young boy, Amun, stopped walking as he bent down and retrieved something from his backpack and handed to his friend, "Can you keep this for me?"

Declan frowned as he took the heavy dark brown book with a very thick front cover and said, "Wow, did you steal this from the school library? And what happened to the other half of it? Did you tear it?" he stuffed it into his backpack as he slung it over his shoulder.

Amun shook his head, "No, it belonged to my family. It's pretty old actually. But keep it safe and don't give it to anyone. And the book is meant to be kept in two. If it becomes one, it'll be very powerful."

Declan looked closely at his friend for a moment before he lightly pushed him and laughed, "Look, just because you come from Egypt doesn't make you all spooky and mysterious. Really, a book that is powerful? Be real! You've been reading Harry Potter again, haven't you? I thought we'd outgrew those books. So quit acting like a wannabe wizard and let's get going or we'll be late again!"

Amun gave him a look before he blinked and smiled, "You're right, Dec. Sorry."

"You know I'm right." He put his arm around his friend's shoulder and they walked together into the classroom. "By the way, who has the other half of the book?"

Amun grinned, "My sister, Jamilla."

…

Odenton Private School, Landover Maryland –

"Jack…Jack Hotchner?"

He turned around and saw a girl smiling at her, "Oh hey Jamilla, how are you?"

She returned his smile shyly, "I'm fine, are you on your way to math class?"

Jack nodded, "Yeah, you?"

She shook her head, "No, I have music but hey, can I ask a favor of you?"

Jack shrugged, "Sure, what is it?"

She bent down and pulled out a dark brown book and handed it to him, "Can you keep this for me?"

Jack took it from her and looked at it, "Hey, where is the front of the book? Did you tear it or something?"

Jamilla smiled as she shook her head, "It belongs to my family. It is supposed to be like that. The front half must not join this half. Just keep it safe please?"

He nodded as he put it in his back pack. "Not a problem, so who had the other half?"

She smiled, "My brother Amun."

"You're being mysterious again, Jamilla. Have you been reading Harry Potter?"

She laughed, "I have read them all already."

"Me too. And seen all the movies. You?"

She nodded, "Yes, I have. We were lucky to watch it here in America. In Egypt we are not allowed to watch some parts…they censored most of it."

Jack arched his brow, "Oh yeah? How do you know what they're talking about if they cut it off?"

She grinned, "That is why you read the books, silly."

The bell rang as the two began to jog to their separate classes.

…

The Egyptian Museum of Antiquities, Cairo, Egypt.

Antiquities Minister Anwar Fayad stood near a clothed covered body in the closed section of the museum. He was looking at two rosewood pedestals where the clear glasses were on enclosed but the contents were missing.

"Minister, the guard is dead, he had been dead from last night." The Director of the museum, Saleh Muhammed, reported.

"And the Book?" The Minister asked, his brow arched.

Saleh shook his head, "I'm afraid it is taken; no fingerprints or anything."

"How mysterious. The guard strangled and the two halves of the Book missing. What about surveillance video?"

"Ah, as to that, the footage was fuzzy as if there was some kind of interference and when it was clear again, the two halves were gone and the guard dead."

Fayad looked at him skeptically, "I want to see it."

"As you wish." He led the way to the control room where the security guards were sitting surrounded by multiple screens of all over the museum.

He led the Minister to his office and keyed the CD in his computer screen.

As they watched it, it showed the guard making his nightly rounds around the exhibit until he neared the two pedestals when the screen became fuzzy as if someone had walked to close to it and the camera became out of focus and five minutes later it became clear again, the guard was lying down motionless and they could see the contents in the glass encasements were now empty.

"Did you check the corresponding video camera and see if anyone came in or out of the room?"

The director nodded, "Yes I did. There was nothing. No one walked in or out."

"A mystery."

"Yes it is, and we have no idea where the Book has gone."

"Let's hope it did not fall into the wrong hands." Anwar Fayad said as he gazed at the wall relief of the Deity Amun Ra.

It was as if the face of Amun was looking at the empty glass encasement.

_Do you know something? _

…

Emily was sitting in the office of the Head of the BSW school.

"So, it is official." He smiled at her. "Congratulations Agent Prentiss."

"Thank you Dr. Indira." She grinned. "May I see Declan and tell him the good news?"

He consulted the class schedule and nodded and turned to the desk phone and pressed a button. "Mrs. Rhonelle, if you will could you send Declan Jones to the Headmaster's office?"

Yes sir.

"Thank you." He turned back to Emily. "Well now are you going to enroll him back here next year?"

Emily shook her head, "No, I'm sorry. He's moving with me to London permanently. So I'll be enrolling him over there."

"Very well, I'll transfer all his grades and necessary paperwork over there."

"Thank you, I appreciate it, Dr. Indira."

He shook his head, "It'll be my pleasure and our lost; Declan is an excellent student and very intelligent."

Emily beamed proudly as the door knocked a few times.

Dr. Indira stood up and walked to the door and said to her, "I'll let you two have some privacy."

He nodded at Declan, "You have a visitor, Mr. Jones." And left.

Declan walked in and saw Emily standing behind the door and launched himself at once to her, "Emily!"

Emily her arms around him tightly as she laughed and teared to see him, "Hey kid!"

He nodded as he couldn't say anything but kept his head in her shoulder.

Emily winced but she didn't complain as this was worth any bullet she took just to see him!

As he recovered himself and pulled away from her, he grinned shyly, "What are you doing here? I thought I'll be flying to London with Nina next week when school is over?"

"Well, I have some good news and some bad news for you, kid."

Declan nodded, "The bad news first."

Emily nodded. "Well, you won't be coming to this school anymore next year, you'll be going to another school." She watched his reaction.

He looked down and said sadly, "I see. That's the sad news?"

"Declan, you won't see your friends anymore, aren't you sad?"

He shrugged as he pulled out his cell phone, "I have Facebook and Twitter, Emily. We can still talk."

Emily grinned sheepishly, "Oh yeah…those things, I forgot about that."

He smiled at her, "Come on Em, I told you to get into the 21st century." He waved at his cell phone.

Emily shook her head, "I guess I'm still old fashion. Maybe you can show me sometime."

He nodded. "Deal. So what's the good news?"

Emily picked up the envelope from table and pulled it out and showed them to him, "It's done, Declan."

He looked at the first piece and saw the key words; Adoption approved and looked up at Emily and "You mean…?"

She nodded enthusiastically, "Officially. Done deal kid."

"You …me…I'm yours."

"Yup, you're my kid…my son. I officially adopted you. How about it?"

"Cool! I'm not Declan Jones anymore." He marveled.

"Happy Birthday, Declan Prentiss." She said softly.

Declan nodded as he went to her arms quietly and hugged her tight, "I love you …Mom."

Emily swallowed hard and closed her eyes as she wept, "I love you too, my son. Mine son." He nodded in her body.

Ten minutes later, Dr. Indira came back in and found them smiling as they admired Declan's adoption certificate.

"Ah! Mr. Jo…I beg your pardon, Mr. Prentiss, congratulations on your new status." He shook hands with the youngster.

"Thank you, Head Master, and I'm going to live in London with my Mom, too."

The dark-skinned man grinned as he nodded, "So I heard, I'm sure your friends will miss you here but you'll make new ones there."

A few minutes later, Emily and Declan left the school as the headmaster allowed her to check him out early to begin his summer vacation.

As they drove out of the school compound, Declan remembered the strange book his friend Amun had passed it to him, he took his cell phone out and sent a text to him to let him know he was out of school and that he had the book and that he could mail it to him if he'd text his address.

But Amun did not return his text, Declan figured he couldn't as he was in class; then again, that had never stopped him before as they had texted back and forth during classes.

He then tucked his phone back figuring he'd return his message whenever he got out of class later.

"So where to, kid?" Emily asked, "My treat."

Declan smiled as he thought for a moment before he spoke, "How about a movie?"

"A movie? I like that! Let's do it! Your pick, of course. Just no sappy romance stuff." She teased him.

He grimaced, "Mom! Be real! I want to see the new Lone Ranger."

"Okay! The Lone Ranger it is!" Emily smiled wide as she couldn't help feeling her heart soared whenever she heard Declan called her 'Mom'.

How much she had wanted children! And if she couldn't have it the natural and normal way, and she knew Declan needed her, she'd do her best to give him whatever he wanted after what he had went through a few years ago! She wanted to erase that horrifying memory from him and gave him a childhood from here on.

"With popcorn, hotdog, candy and soda!" he chimed in cheerfully.

Emily looked at him as she grinned, "Can you eat all of that?"

He nodded, "Oh yeah! But you can share with me."

"Oh, I can, can't I?" She reached over and poked him in his ribs that made him giggled.

"Mom! Stop it! We're gonna get in a wreck!" He shook his head as he tried to avoid her.

She laughed, "Come on, Dec, don't you know I can drive without using my hands...see!"She took both her hands from the wheel and wriggled her fingers up and then put them back on the wheel.

He leaned over and shook his head, "No fair, you had it on cruise control."

She frowned at him, "How did…? Nevermind, I know, I know, you're not a kid anymore. You're 12 going on 42, smarty pants."

He nodded as he felt his cell phone buzzing and he pulled it out and read the text from Amun;

_Keep it safe, my friend. I will contact you soon. Amun._

Declan frowned as he read the text again and with a shrug put it away and began to enjoy his day with his newly adopted mother.

He glanced at her while she drove; Declan thought about his strange upbringing, he didn't remember much about when he was very little only that he moved a lot and an elderly lady had taken care of him until he started school here when Emily brought him out of that place with the man.

The tall man whom he knew was his father but his face was pretty much forgotten. Every once in a while he'd have dreams of him where he was in a wide dark space and he held his father's hand and it was bloody. That was all he remembered the most; his father's bloodied hand and then everything else would fade.

As for his real mom, he thought it was a dark haired woman whom he feared to think about, but Emily had told him that his real mom had died when he was born. That was why she was his new mom.

And he liked it; Emily was very wonderful to him, she took him out of that dark place and showed him this school and although for a long time, he'd hardly saw her in person, the wonders of Skype and phones helped keep them in constant contact. And she indulged him. At his home here, he had whatever he wanted; his lived-in housekeeper Nina took care of him and made sure his needs were met. Emily spared no expenses for him, giving him whatever he wanted yet he was not spoiled as he rewarded her in kind with his school grades. Academically, he was in the top five percent of his peers and he never got in trouble in school.

As he watched the country scenery flew by, he thought about Amun, his friend whom he knew only earlier this year. Amun's family had come from Egypt, he had told Declan that his father was an important person in his country as was his mother Noor so that was how he was enrolled in a school for foreign diplomat children. His younger sister Jamilla was 8 years old and she attended an elementary school nearby as their mother who now works as an interpreter for the Egyptian Embassy as a volunteer had insisted his sister be placed nearer the Embassy.

…..

Minister Fayad was becoming frustrated as he stood before the police chief, so far they had no clue who had taken the Book of the Dead, and there were no evidences at all who had strangled the night guard.

"I'm sorry, Minister."

"As am I, Chief Habib." He turned away and left the building and received a call from the Museum Director.

_Another guard is found dead, sir._

"What is going on? How?"

_He was strangled too. No witness._

"Is anything missing?"

_The amulet of Ra is missing…how did you know?_

"Just a hunch…it seems who ever took the book has an interest in all things tied to the God of Ra."

_An interesting observation, Minister, should we put away all our artifacts pertaining to Ra?_

"No, that is not necessary; just get more guards for the museum."

_Yes, it shall be done._

…..

When class was over, Amun was getting into the back of the car, "Hi dear, how was your day?" His mother greeted him as she was reading her book from the front passenger seat.

"It is good, mother." He said with his head down.

"Do you have any homework to do?"

"Yes, I do."

"What? Two days before school is out and you still have homework?"His mother asked.

"Mother, remember, it's a diplomatic school, the teachers here have to earn their wages or they lose their employment by the end of the school year."

Her mother shook her head, "Amun my son, you're only 12 yet you speak beyond your years."

He looked up at his mother as he clutched something in his hand, "But I am, mother. I am Amun, son of Ra."

His mother turned around from the passenger seat to look at her son, "What did you just say?"

He blinked his eyes and grinned, "I'm just joking, mother. Seriously though, I'm your eldest son so I should be more responsible."

She smiled at him, "For a moment, you sound…never mind, okay…just get your homework done before dinner."

"I will mother." He nodded as he watched the car pulled into the elementary school driveway.

The driver got out and opened the door for Jamilla as she nodded her thanks to him before joining her brother in the backseat.

"Hello Jamilla."

"Oh hello mother." She smiled at her.

"How was your day my daughter?"

She smiled as she replied, "It is good, we learned a new song in music class."

"That is good, you'll have to tell me about it at dinner." Her mother said as she returned to her book.

"Did you do it?" Amun whispered to his sister.

She nodded, "It is done, Amun. And you?"

He nodded, "Look at this," He opened his palm and showed her the item in his hand.

She grinned and nodded, "It has begun."

He nodded, "Yes, it has."

….

End of Chapter 2

.


	3. Chapter 3

BAU: The Book of the Dead – Chapter 3

.

"Jeez Mom, this looks pretty gross but kind of neat…does it hurt?"

Emily was in her bedroom when Declan came in and saw her still in her bath robe and it revealed her wounds.

She was sitting in front of the dressing table, a large mirror reflected her and Declan in his new crisp white shirt, his tie hanging around his neck but he was engrossed now in gawking at her injury.

"Not much now, I know it looks angry but the doctor did a pretty good job patching it, I think." She said as she looked down at the sutures.

Pointing at something weird around it, he asked, "What's this? It looks like an old scar." He tentatively placed a finger and traced it being careful to not touch the sutures.

Emily arched her brow at him, "Someone bad made a mark on me."

He looked at her, "Is it my father?"

Emily stared at him for a while before she answered, "Yes Declan, he did. But that was a long time ago."

"Why?"

"Because he wanted to make sure I'm part of him." She kept her gaze on him.

"But I am part of him and I don't have this."

"Declan, I'm not part of him anymore. I have never been." She held his face.

He nodded, "I guess, he was not very nice to do that to you."

"Hey, it's okay now. It's in the past, Declan. So, how about you don't wear that tie?"

He turned his face at her, "But I thought you said…?"

"I just want you to be comfortable," she smiled as she slid the tie from his neck and gave it back to him. "Now will you let me finish getting dressed? Or we'll be late."

He nodded and turned around and as he was leaving, Emily leaned over and smacked him on his bottom, "Hey!" He turned and stuck his tongue out at her as he dashed out from her room, giggling.

Emily sighed, "That was a close one."

_Screw you, Ian. Look how well your son had handled you!_

Two hours later, they stood before Dave Rossi's front door.

"Are you sure they won't mind me here?" Declan said as his face paled slightly.

She nudged him slightly, "I don't think anyone is going to turn out my date."

"Mom!" he shook his head. "I'm not your date."

"Okay…maybe I'm the Lone Ranger and you're Tonto." She nodded.

He shook his head again, "Please?"

The door opened as Dave smiled and Emily was soon enveloped by the Italian as Declan watched them.

They spoke in rapid Italian which to his young ears it sounded like he was speaking gibberish.

As they stepped into the foyer, Emily introduced Declan to Dave.

"This is Declan?" He exclaimed. "The last time I saw him he was this tall!" he put his hand near Emily's shoulder. "I can't believe he'd grown and here I thought you brought a hot new date."

Declan peeked around and looked him; _seriously?_

"Dave! Declan is my son now. He is Declan Prentiss." She said firmly.

He grinned, "Congratulations _bella_! And to you, Declan. Come on in…get something to drink, whatever you want kid, we have soda, beer, whiskey…" He chuckled as he picked up his drink.

"Dave, he's only 12." She winked at her son. "Let's find some soda for you."

He nodded as he followed her and looked around him; this place was huge, and quite a few adults whom he felt he knew them but he couldn't remember their names…once again, his mind flashed to his father's bloodied hand…

"Emily! Oh my god! You're here!" JJ squealed as she rushed to hug her tightly. "When did you arrive?"

They began to talk rapidly as Declan looked at the blonde woman, she also looked familiar to him yet he couldn't place her.

"Declan, I want you to meet JJ. She is a very good friend of mine." Emily grinned as she wrapped her right arm around the blonde woman.

"This is Declan? Wow! He's almost the same height as you! Hi Declan, it's nice to meet you again, you probably don't remember me or anyone of us but we go way back but it's good to see you again."

Declan smiled shyly, "It's nice to meet you too, Ms. Jareau."

"He is so sweet!"JJ turned to Emily. "And you brought him so does that mean…?"

Emily nodded enthusiastically, "It's official, I'm his mom. He's Declan Prentiss now." She said proudly.

JJ put her hand on his shoulder, "I'm so glad for you two, it's been a long journey for Emily to get the paperwork. Declan Prentiss, it sounds good on you."

He nodded.

"Where's Reid?" Emily asked as she looked about her. "And Will?"

"Spence had to fly to Vegas at the last moment," JJ said. "His mother had a bad episode. The Director of the hospital called earlier this afternoon."

Emily nodded, "I hope she's okay. Has he called?"

JJ shook her head. "Will has night duty in D.C. That's why Henry and I are crashing here for the night."

Dave came over and turned to Emily, "Emily, I have a room set up for the kids if you don' mind?"

Emily smiled as she nodded and followed Dave, "Come on Dec, let's see what he's talking about."

Declan followed them as they led him to a big room. Declan's eyes opened wide as he smiled; there were video game console that were connected to flat screens and various board games with a large table to play on.

Two boys were playing in front of the Playstation3 and they were engrossed in the game of Mario Super Land; a multiplayer game.

"Hey Jack, Henry!" Dave called out to the two boys. They turned around and looked at Dave and at Declan.

"This is Declan, how about inviting him into the game?" Dave asked them.

They nodded as Jack stood up and went over to Declan, "Hi, I'm Jack Hotchner. Come on and play with us, the more people playing the better."

Declan nodded, "Thanks, I'm Declan …Prentiss." He looked up at Emily and grinned as he moved over to where Henry was waiting for them as he slid another controller to Declan.

Dave and Emily watched them interact for a moment before they retreated from the room.

Closing the door, Emily smiled, "That's a great idea you have, Dave."

"Hey, I may not have any kids of my own but I have on good authority that this is an excellent investment for having friends with kids over."

"I agree and kudos to your source," she was laughing as she stepped out of the room and walked straight into the hard chest of ….!

"Oof! Shit!" Emily clutched her chest instantly as the searing pain hit her chest as she doubled over.

"Emily! Are you okay?" Dave held her arms.

"Sean! What did you do?" Hotch, standing behind him asked.

"I…nothing! She came out of nowhere and plowed right into me! I swear to you Aaron, I didn't do anything." He waved his hands helplessly as Hotch looked on with concern at Emily.

Emily straightened up as she was finally able to breathe normally again, her face slightly pale, "I'm fine. I'm sorry…I didn't see where I was going." She looked up at Sean's clear blue eyes.

"I'm truly sorry, Emily." He smiled at her.

She returned his smile, "And I said it's okay, I'm fine…I…didn't we have this conversation before?" She chuckled as she recalled their encounter in the plane.

He grinned widely, "Oh yeah, that was how it all started, didn't it?"

She nodded as they began to move into the den as they continue to talk.

Dave and Hotch exchanged looks, "They met on the plane yesterday on the way here," Hotch explained. "She didn't know Sean's my brother at that time."

"Ah! I see but it looks like they're hitting off pretty good." Dave grinned.

Hotch frowned as he watched them as they'd sat down and were still talking, and smiling.

"Something bothering you, Aaron?" Dave asked.

"No, just watching out for Emily."

"What do you mean?" The older Italian inquired as he turned to watch the two before he turned back to his friend.

"Sean is known to play 'em and leave 'em, and I don't want Emily to be one of them."

"Aaron, I think Emily is a big girl and she can take care of herself. And she can go with whom she chooses and if it happens to be your brother, so be it. Do I detect a hint of brotherly jealousy?" He looked closely at him.

Aaron shook his head, "No, I'm not, Dave. I am engaged to…to…"

"Beth?" Dave pointed out as Hotch hesitated.

"I know what her name is, Dave. I'm engaged to her, to Beth. And I …love her so how can I be jealous of my own brother?"

"I'm just wondering if you know what you're doing right now." He looked away from Hotch and then to Emily and Sean who were laughing at Garcia was saying.

Dave saw a tic jumped in the lower side of Hotch's jaw as he saw him frowning at them. He shook his head as he walked on and joined the others in the den while Hotch walked the opposite way and joined Beth on the couch with JJ.

Half an hour later, Dave was talking to JJ when he noticed Emily fidgeting and discomfort as she sat by herself.

"Excuse me, JJ. I need to ask Emily something." JJ nodded as he moved to Emily.

"Emily, come with me for a moment." He led her to the hallway and to a bedroom.

Emily saw the room and arched a brow, "Dave, I think we're way past teenager stage and sneaking into our parents' room for a grab and feel."

Dave shook his head as he placed his drink on the side table by the bed. "Sit."

"Dave? What's this?" She moved to the edge of the bed anyways as he pointed at it. His demeanor told her he was not in a cheery mood.

She sat down and watched him expectantly, "Okay, I'm sitting."

"Did you get injure or something?" He asked right away.

Slightly shock, she tried to smile but seeing his face, it fell. "Yeah but it's not so bad."

"Bullshit. I've been watching you all evening and it's more than that. Let me see it."

"Dave, I hardly think it's the right time."

"Emily…."he warned her.

Defeated, she began to unbutton the top three of her shirt and spread them for him to see, exposing her black lacy bra and a lot of cleavage but Dave was not looking at them only at the angry raw suture.

Dave leaned in to look closer, "Shit Emily! This is serious, it looks almost infected, have you been cleaning it?"

She nodded, "Yeah but I guess it needs cleaning again."

He nodded and disappeared out of the room.

When he came back a few minutes later, he had his medical kit and placing it on the bed began to open the kit when Hotch came in.

"Dave…where are your…oh sorry! I…what is going on?" He saw them on the bed with a medical kit and Emily partially undressed.

Then he saw the wound and walked right into the room and stood before her, "What the hell happen to you, Emily?"

"I was shot at when I was pursuing a hot target a few weeks ago." She explained.

"Shot! But it's near your…you could have died!" he glared at her as he knelt on one knee in front of her, his knee touching hers. "Emily, when are you going to learn to be more careful? I thought the job in London is a desk job?"

"Well, they were short-handed in the field and I can speak Farsi…"

"You were in the Middle East?" Hotch demanded angrily. "How could you?"

"Hotch, calm down. I was with a big group of armed forces, I had protection."

"Then explain this," He touched the wound tenderly.

"I…"

"Aaron…?" Beth was standing by the doorway looking at them.

Emily saw that they were alone in the bedroom, Dave had disappeared.

"Beth…I was just …" Hotch hesitated.

"Beth!" Emily exclaimed. "Aaron was cleaning my wound, I thought it was infected." She picked up the bottle of hydrogen peroxide from the medical kit; _thank god, Dave left the kit here!_

"Oh I see, that looks really horrible, Emily." Beth said uncertainly as she kept glancing back and forth at them.

"Okay!" Dave exclaimed loudly from behind Beth as he walked into the bedroom, "I couldn't find any bandages, I thought I had some. You're right, it'll be a good idea to let it air out. Oh hi Beth! Enjoying your party?" he said happily. "Oh, Aaron the wine bottles are in the cellar. Derek knows where they're at."

Hotch nodded, "I'll get him to show me, thanks Dave." He gave Emily one last look before standing up and left the room.

Beth looked at Emily again before she left the room.

Emily and Dave sighed with relieved, "Boy that was close!" Emily began to button her shirt back up again. "What the heck is Hotch's problem?" She looked at Dave.

"Emily, we're all worried about you and now that you almost…" Dave shook his head. "It's a wake up call for Aaron."

"What do you mean, for him?" She asked.

"Look Emily, just be careful okay? Let's get back to the party, I need a refill and I'm making mine a double." He shook his head again as they left the bedroom together.

The rest of the evening Hotch stayed close to Beth as Emily talked with the rest of her old team members and Sean, whom everyone noticed they were hitting off very well.

When they sat down to eat, Emily was sitting in between Sean and Declan as she was directly across from Hotch.

He avoided eye contact with her during dinner.

When it was over, everyone gathered in the large den, Emily was sitting with Dave one side and Sean the other side, the boys had retreated back into the playroom as soon as they had finished with their dinner.

After the gifts were opened and admired, they toasted the newly engaged couple when the conversation turned; they were teasing about Hotch's exploits as a profiling and then Beth asked laughingly what was Hotch's most embarrassing moments in the BAU.

Garcia began to bounce happily as she began to regale to all about an incident;

"…oh yeah, I remember when Emily and Hotch had to do an interview with George Hutchins. Boy, he was a creep." Garcia said enthusiastically. "And what made it worse he deliberately upchuck his contents all over Emily's shirt!" She group began to laugh as Emily blushed deeply as she shook her head. "Poor Em, she had to borrow Hotch's jacket and wear it all the way home."

"You mean, just the jack and that's it?" Sean grinned as he leaned over to look at his brother. "Where were you guys at?"

Garcia nodded as she giggled, "Oh yeah, she had to throw away her shirt and well, her bra too! Oh, they were in Tampa, Florida."

"Don't you all pack your overnight bags or something like that?" Sean asked again.

"Oh they did but the airline made them check in the bags as baggages and when they got to Florida, the bags went to California."

They all laughed, "That is why I hate commercial flights." Hotch remarked.

"And that's why Emily didn't have a change of clothing but that's not only that."

"Why, what else happened?" Sean asked innocently.

"Oh," Garcia and Morgan began to laugh hard as Dave began to chuckle and soon even JJ was laughing too.

"What?" Sean looked at them. "What happened?"

Garcia continued, "You have never seen two of the most unluckiest people like Hotch and Emily.

Hotch grinned as he looked at Beth who was smiling back at him but when she looked at Emily, her smile faltered.

Emily was grinning as she looked at Garcia, "You're not going to tell, PG."

"Oh yes I am. You see, they decided to drive back up northward because all the flights were overbooked and Hotch didn't want to wait the next day."

"I didn't, I had a staff meeting the next day!" Hotch justified. "It was the Republican National Convention at Tampa and an absolute nightmare at the airport.

"You should have seen his face," Emily laughed. "He was so mad at the airlines and at the Convention."

"And you're still wearing his jacket." Sean pointed out as he looked at her.

She returned his gaze, "Oh...yeah…because it was in the middle of the night, all the stores were closed."

The BAU team was grinning at the pair except for Hotch who was glaring at them while Beth watched him with confusion.

"Then as they drove on through the worse tropical season as tropical storm Debbie came through while they were driving on the flooded freeway when they blew a tire."

Sean turned back to look at Garcia and laughed, "Seriously?"

Garcia nodded her head, "So Hotch was changing the tire on the rental car in the middle of a storm with all the rain and wind blowing at them in the dark. And… what blew over and hit your head, Hotch?" Garcia leaned over to look at him.

Hotch shook his head, "It was a giant beach ball that came out of nowhere and hit me, knocking my hand that was holding a lug nut and tire iron down the ditch."

There was a pause as the words sank in before they all burst into loud raucous laughter.

"Mind you, we were driving along the freeway near the coastal line which was all beaches, that's where that very, very large pink and white beach ball took me out." He shook his head as he began to laugh as well.

"So…?" Sean prompted.

Emily added, "I had to get out with a flashlight and help him look for that friggin' lug nut that's the size of a dime while he hunted for the tire iron. It took us two hours…"

"Three…" he held out three fingers at Emily. "It was three damn hours on our hands and knees looking for that stupid nut."

They were all practically tearing up laughing.

"Needless to say, we were soaking wet when we got back into the car and we managed to drive for another ten miles when the engine just stopped." Hotch said.

"What happened?"

Hotch shook his head, "You know Sean, to this day, I just can't figure out how, the rental place said the car took in water in the engine which I find it impossible but what do I know?" He shrugged. "We gave up and decided to sleep in the car by the road until a roadside emergency crew came and offered us a ride to the nearest town.

"Which didn't help us much as there were no motels so we stopped at the smallest police station we've ever seen which was closed after business hours…yah, go figure it out. Luckily for us, there was a overhang and a bench and we spent the rest of our miserable night on that wooden bench."

"Ah, you didn't tell them about that water dripping down right in the middle of the bench, so we didn't really sleep and we stayed wet the rest of the night. That had to be one of the worse experience I've ever had." Emily chuckled.

"We did get us another rental eventually and rushed back to Quantico."

"He wouldn't even drop me off at my apartment." Emily shook her head.

"Because I had a sta…"

"..staff meeting!" the whole group yelled out loud as they laughed at him; they knew he was a stickler and would never dared to miss a meeting if he could help it.

Hotch looked at Beth, "See what I have to deal with?" he spread his hands at his team.

Beth returned his smile.

"But," Emily continued.

"You mean there's a but?" Sean chuckled.

"Oh yeah, we were not done yet." Emily laughed as Hotch had his head in his hands. "You know what I'm going to say, Hotch."

He nodded even though he didn't look up.

"What?" Dave asked as he looked at Garcia.

"These two rushed back and realized it was a Saturday!" Garcia grinned.

Hotch was shaking in his hands as he was really laughing.

"So Garcia," Sean looked over to her as she looked back. "How did you know all about it?"

Garcia started to laugh again, "I pried the whole thing out of Emily because she called me."

"And why did I call Garcia, Hotch?" Emily leaned over to ask him.

He finally raised his head which was red, "Because I locked the keys in the rental."

"And," Garcia raised her hand up. "I had to give up my morning for these two because when I found these two pitiful people, they were sitting by the rental looking as if some lost bums."

They were back to laughing all over again.

"Hotch was nice enough to give me Monday off after that," Emily finally admitted as she said looking at her lap.

"Did you make it to your staff meeting, Aaron?" Dave asked.

Hotch nodded, "I did go to the meeting on MONDAY morning and then took the rest of the day off too."

"That is the best story I've ever heard, and a very humbling one of Aaron." Dave grinned.

"It was not humbling," Hotch said. "It was humiliating." He smiled.

At this point, Declan and Jack came into the den and told JJ that Henry had crashed out while playing and that they were pretty gave out too as Declan came over and squeezed in between Emily and Sean and rested his head on her shoulder and closed his eyes and promptly passed out. As did Jack sitting next to Hotch.

Dave and JJ got up and took Henry to the guest room

When Dave and JJ came back, Emily stood up as well as Sean.

"Well, I guess it's time Declan and I should go," Emily looked over to Dave.

"We should too." Hotch nodded. "Thank you everyone for coming, Garcia thanks for giving this party."

"Anytime Hotch." Garcia waved at him, Garcia and Morgan were spending the night here at Dave's.

"Yes, thank you all and the presents, it's so nice of all of you." Beth smiled at everyone.

"I'll help you with your kid." Sean offered as Emily nodded her thanks.

He stood up and carried him out to her car.

Emily was about to get in her car when Sean came around and stopped her. "Hey, can I see you again. I mean how about a lunch or dinner tomorrow?"

Emily smiled, "I heard you're a great chef…?"

He grinned, "As a matter of fact I am…if you have a kitchen."

"In fact I still do have my current house for another week before I move to a rental. Are you free tomorrow?"

"Well, as you can see I don't have any wheels…"

Emily laughed, "I'll pick you up and we can get some stuff for you fix us a smashing dinner."

He grinned at her as he reached out and ran the back of hand on her cheek, "I'll cook you a dinner you'll never forget, Emily." He looked at her intently with his piercing blue eyes.

Emily nodded, "You've got a deal, Sean…but you're going to have to cook for three, "She turned to look at her sleeping son and turned back to him.

He ran his finger now on her lower lip, "Dinner for three…is fine. It'll be my pleasure." He said softly.

"Hey Sean!" Aaron yelled out from his car. "We're leaving!"

Sean closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them as he shrugged, "Gotta go, my chaperone beckoned." He put his finger on his lips and placed it on her lips and turned to leave as he climbed in Hotch's SUV.

Emily licked her lips where Sean had placed his finger as she looked up and saw Sean's boyish grin as he waved at her and then she caught Hotch's intent glare at her as he drove away.

She shook her head as she turned on her ignition and drove out of Dave's drive way and headed home.

…

In Cairo, Egypt -

Minister, something is missing from the display case.

"What is it?" Fayad was on his way home when the director called him.

Gripping the phone in frustration, the Director told him it was the amulet of Isis that was now missing. The enclosed encasement had not been moved at all, although there was a light layer of sand found around the bottom of the pedestal.

He ended the phone call and threw the phone angrily he muttered, "What in Allah is going on in the museum? Is there truly an unknown power unleashed within? How do I contain it when I do not know what it is?" he hit the steering wheel as he drove home.

…

In Virginia –

Jamilla came into Amun's bedroom as he was reading a book.

"Look at this, Amun." She opened her right hand and showed him what was in her palm.

Amun nodded, "Are you okay?"

She nodded, "Yes, I am fine."

He nodded and he went back to reading his book while she returned to her room.

….

End of Chapter 3


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you everyone! and to guest readers Lily! and to those who put this on your alert, adds and fav! Thanks!**

BAU: The Book of the Dead – Chapter 4

.

"Beth, I can assure you nothing happened between Emily and I." Hotch looked at her in her eyes as they were sitting in her living room couch.

They had dropped off Sean and Jack at his house, and now Hotch was in Beth's apartment; he knew she wanted some time alone with him.

"But Aaron," she gave him a pleading and uncertain look. "The way all of you were talking tonight as if you two had something going on." She looked down at her hands on her lap.

Hotch leaned over and picked up her hands and held it, "Beth, we were reminiscing. We have not seen Emily for over a year, naturally the conversation would move to that direction. I'm sorry it took away from your…our engagement." He amended quickly.

She stared at their joint hands and nodded thoughtfully and then said, "What about what happened in the bedroom?"

Hotch arched his brow, "The bedroom?"

She nodded, "You and Emily…you had your hands on her and…" She looked away from him.

"Beth, Emily was shot a few weeks ago, I was concern for her, that's all." He explained.

She turned face back to him, "Why do you have to touch her like that?"

"Like what Beth?"

"Like you two were…intimate."

Hotch shook his head, "You're mistaken, Beth. There is nothing between Emily and I." He repeated. "Please believe me."

"I want to, Aaron but I saw the way you touch her and you had your hand on her leg as if you…you…" she shook her head as she couldn't continue.

"I don't remember putting my hand on her, Beth."

She snapped her head up to him and said, "Your hand was on her thigh in a very familiar way, as if you had done it before. Look Aaron, I don't have to be a profiler or psychologist to read body language. I'm not dumb."

"Beth, I'm not calling you that. I'm sorry if I hurt you but believe me, we …Emily and I are just friends, that's all."

Beth sighed, "Aaron," she said softly. "I don't want to fight with you, especially tonight."

"Me either, Beth." He squeezed her hands a few times.

"I'm tired." She said simply.

He looked at her and nodded and stood up. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"I have to work till late but I'll give you a call." She smiled.

He nodded as he kissed her. "Good night Beth."

"Goodnight Aaron."

…

When Emily arrived home she helped Declan walked to his room; he was too heavy for her to carry and with her injury, it was definitely out of the question.

Tucking him in his undershirt and boxers, Emily kissed him on his forehead and watched him sleep for a while before heading back to her bedroom.

She had a son! It was still a thrill for her to say it; my son.

Declan Prentiss.

She smiled as she turned on the lights in her room and walked to her closet. She slid the double doors out and stared at them; in a week, the packers would be here to pack and move everything out and shipped them to London.

She shifted some of her clothes aside and pulled out a jacket and took it down and placed it on her bed and stared at it.

It was a man's jacket and it was black in color, although it had been dry cleaned she had yet to return it to its rightful owner. It still held quite a few memories, more so than what was told earlier to the team.

These few special memories were tucked and boxed in her special compartment in her mind, she had never let it out, until tonight when the team had, of all story to use to reminisce, they had to use this particular one.

Of course, these few memories now begged to let out of a few moments; just for old times sake'.

She sat down on the edge of her bed facing the jacket and recalled them.

_After Garcia came to pick them up as she gave the two her fifteen minutes lecture of how rude they were to drag her out of her deep slumber with Kevin on her day off, she dropped them off at Emily's and grumpily drove back to her apartment in hopes of getting back to sleep._

_But that part of the memory was irrelevant._

_It was back to when Hotch walked Emily to her apartment door that it all began;_

_She had asked him if he wanted to come in for some hot coffee before she took him to his apartment._

_He nodded as he followed her to the open kitchen in her apartment._

_Maybe it was the way the morning sunlight beamed into the bay window from her living room._

_Maybe it was their exhaustion and they were feeling odd, what with all the driving and being confined in a car._

_Maybe it was that they had spent in each other's company for two straight days and found out that they had enjoyed it very much and that soon they would part and when they returned to work, everything would return to normal. He would be SSAIC Aaron Hotchner, Unit Chief and she would be Emily Prentiss SSA, Supervisory Special Agent._

_They had felt it while they were together by themselves._

_As she filled the kettle in the kitchen sink, when suddenly felt him coming behind her and wrapped his hand around her waist._

_She dropped the kettle in the sink as the water in the tap stopped flowing but Emily didn't notice as she felt his hand snaked into the jacket as he reached for her breast and held it._

_He tucked his head into her as she felt his tongue tracing the length of her neck from the back of her ear down to her collarbone as he massaged the large mound within the jacket._

"_I've wanted to do that ever since you put my damn jacket on without anything underneath. It's the sexiest you I've ever seen and I want to make love to you so badly."_

_Emily gasped as she was speechless and all thoughts were mush._

"_Bedroom?" he demanded._

"_First door on the left."_

_He picked her up and carried her there and spent the weekend at her apartment._

Emily smiled as she stared at his jacket as she continued to recall that for the rest of that day and night, he wouldn't let her take it off, insisted she looked too good in it.

They met together a few more weekends after until Derek began to suspect something.

Hotch and Emily agreed to stop meeting as they felt their careers were more important than getting caught.

And that was last year…until tonight when she saw Hotch's anger.

She didn't understand why as he would soon be married to Beth.

What they had were just a fling, a casual sex or so Emily thought as she couldn't shake his expression off her mind.

She stood up and hung the jacket back up in her closet, all the way into the back.

…

Private house in Virginia –

"Keep it down Hassan, the children will hear us." Noor glanced nervously at the door.

"They are fast asleep, my wife." He frowned. "But we must decide by tonight what to do with them."

"I wish we can bring them home." She begged him.

He shook his head as he stared out of the window into the night sky, seeing only stars above, "It is too dangerous. You know the situation in Egypt right now, it is even too dangerous for you to go with me."

She came to stand with him, "I am your wife, I am not afraid. We are the rightful heirs of Egypt." She said proudly.

He looked down at her affectionately, "Noor, Egypt is a republican country now. We no longer rule the country like in the ancient days of the Pharaohs and the Gods."

"It should be." She said passionately. "I don't have any choice do I, Hassan?"

He shook his head, "For their safety, they should remain here and someone we trust the most."

She held her hand out as he took it.

"Only one more month to go; when the moon ascends the highest point, they shall be in power."

"Then we will be like before. Amun is King. Ra is our power."

They blinked their eyes.

Noor nodded, "Elizabeth Prentiss, do you remember her?"

He shook his head.

"She is now an Ambassador, her daughter is with INTERPOL and she used to work with the FBI."

He arched his brow, "And you think she is the best choice?"

Noor nodded, "There is no one I will trust. If you look at her dossier, you'll agree." She handed him a thick file.

He opened it and read it quickly and then nodded, "I trust your judgment, my wife."

"She just adopted a boy, Amun knows him." She smiled.

"Indeed? How fortuitous."

"I think she will help us."

"Very well, I will then meet you tomorrow at the Embassy when you're done." He then left.

Noor picked up her cell phone and pressed a number.

"Get me Elizabeth Prentiss."

_Yes your Highness._

….

Next morning at Emily's house –

"Declan, breakfast." Emily nudged her foot and opened her son's bedroom door. "Wake up, sleepy head."

She held a tray of food.

He sat up and rubbed his eyes and looked at her, "What's going on?"

She smiled, "Well, first day of summer break, I think someone deserves breakfast in bed!" She placed the tray on his lap as he scooted up to sit up on his bed.

He grinned when he saw what was on the tray, "Cool mom! Thanks!"

Emily sat down on the edge and watched him as he took drink of Chocolate milk and dug into his favorite bowl of Captain Crunch and Berries. And toast.

Emily grabbed a slice of toast and bit into it.

"Hey, you know I invited Sean over, he's going to cook us dinner tonight. You don't mind, do you?" She asked him.

He looked at her and frowned, "You're asking me?"

"Yeah, why? "

He shrugged, "I dunno, you're my mom, you don' have to ask me about anything."

"Declan, we're a family, I should ask you, as a courtesy."

He thought for a moment as he munched on his food and then nodded, "Yah, it's okay I guess. I like him if you do. Can he really cook?"

She grinned, "I guess so, he went to cooking school and all. Besides I thought you might have some other plans or something."

He shook his head, "I don't know anyone besides Amun from school."

"Yeah, guess you'll miss him, maybe you can invite him over to London for the summer once we settle in."

He started bouncing on his bed as Emily caught the tray to keep from flipping over. "Yeah!"

Just then, the doorbell rang from below stair.

Emily frowned as she walked to his bedroom window which looked out to the front and saw a large dark blue car.

"Are you expecting someone, Dec?"

He shook his head as he shoveled another mouthful.

"I'll go down and check."

The house keeper Nina was talking to someone at the main door when Emily approached her.

"Nina, who's that?"

She turned around, "This lady here says she's your mother."

Emily, stunned, opened the door wider and her eyes widened, "Mother! What are you doing here?"

Elizabeth Prentiss smiled, "Well, is this the way you greet your mother?"

Emily shook her head and went to her and gave her a warm hug and bussed her cheek.

"How are you doing mother?"

"I am fine…I just drop by to …ah…ask you a favor, actually."

Emily nodded, "Of course, I'm not surprise by that. That's what happened the last time I saw you."

The Ambassador chose to ignore the jab and entered the house and looked around.

"Come on in and have a seat in the family room." Emily turned and led the way.

"Actually Emily, I didn't …Emily!" She was left alone in the foyer.

Nina the housekeeper had disappeared into the kitchen already.

Having no choice she walked to the direction Emily had gone and stepped into another room and saw it was big with a large couch and an easy chair where Emily was sitting, waiting for her.

"Emily, I.."

"Have a seat, mother." Emily pointed to the couch.

The Ambassador frowned as she sat down and turned to her daughter.

"Now, what can I do for you, mother?" Emily watched her.

"I have a favor to ask you…well actually it's a favor for a friend of mine but…" she faltered.

"Just ask, mother."

"I need you to baby sit two children for about a month." She said and looked at Emily expectantly.

"I beg your pardon?" Emily was stunned.

"I need you to baby sit two children."

Emily shook her head, "Mother, I don't run a childcare service here and I'm in the process of moving out of here and to London in a month."

Elizabeth smiled, "Well, then that's all I need, a month. The children's mother only needed someone to care for them for a month."

"Mother, why can't they find someone else? I mean don't get me wrong, I love kids but this is really not the right time."

"I know but they are not ordinary kids. They are Egyptians. And you know the current situation over there; it's just not safe for them to be there right now."

Emily took a deep breath and was about to speak when Declan came down and into the room.

"Mom? Are you okay?" He peeked in.

Elizabeth Prentiss looked at Declan and then at Emily, "Mom?"

Emily grinned at her sheepishly, "Oh yes, mother. You're a grandmother. This is Declan, my son."

Declan came in and sat on Emily's lap as she held him on his shoulders.

Elizabeth was still stunned and speechless as she continued to stare at them.

"I just adopted Declan, the papers came a few days ago. Dec, how about greeting your grandmother?"

He nodded as he moved to stand in front of her and smiled, "Hello grandmother. I'm Declan Prentiss."

Elizabeth put her hand on her chest, "Grandmother? Me?"

He grinned and nodded his head.

"Oh." She said as she kept her gaze on the young boy. "How old are you, Declan?"

"I'm 12 years old."

She nodded, "I see."

Emily grinned. "Now, back to this baby sitting thing?"

Elizabeth nodded, "Er yes, this um, well. Oh dear." She stood up. "I'll be right back."

Emily stood up too and nodded as she held Declan's hand.

The Ambassador walked out of the house but five minutes later she came back with a middle eastern woman in her early thirties. Walking behind them were two children, a boy and a girl.

Emily and Declan watched them walked up the short steps leading to the front door.

Declan saw in shock who the boy was behind the woman as he exclaimed.

"Amun!"

Emily turned to look at her son and then at the dark haired and olive-skinned boy about his age, "You know him, Declan?"

He nodded, "Yeah, that is Amun, I told you about him, he goes to my school." He smiled at him and waved.

Amun returned Declan's smile and waved back.

Emily nodded, "Who's the little girl?"

"That must be his little sister, Jamilla."

"Cute kids."

"Mom, really? Cute?" Declan shook his head. "Cute is for babies."

As the Ambassador came closer to Emily she introduced her to Amun's mother.

"Emily, I'd like you to meet a friend of mine, this is Princess Noor of Egypt. Noor, this is my daughter, Emily."

They shook hands, "Please it's just Noor, we do not use our title out of the country. And these are my children, Amun and Jamilla."

They nodded shyly at Emily as she smiled at them.

Emily nodded as she invited her and her children to sit on the couch.

"Mom, can I show Amun my room?" Declan asked Emily.

She nodded, "How about taking Jamilla too?"

Declan looked at the younger girl and then nodded, "You can come too if you want."

Jamilla looked at her mother expectantly who nodded.

The three children walked out of the room at once as Nina came with a tray of drinks.

"This is Nina, my housekeeper and Declan's nanny of three years." Emily smiled at her.

Nina turned at them and nodded, "How do you do, please have some lemonade, it's freshly squeezed and made."

The guests nodded their thanks and took their drinks.

"I'll take some upstairs to the children, Miss Emily."

She nodded as she turned her attention to her guest and her mother. "Okay, about the children and baby-sitting?"

Noor smiled, "That would be my fault, Ms. Prentiss, my husband and I are very involved in the Egyptian government and as you're aware of the unrest happening currently, we feel it's not safe for Amun and Jamilla to travel back to Egypt with us, and I'd prefer someone whom we trust to care for my children. You will be well compensated."

Emily shook her head, "Call me Emily please. And money is not the issue. It's just that you don't know me well at all, how can you trust me?"

Noor smiled at her, "You work for the INTERPOL in London but you're on medical leave for a month because of an incident in Afghanistan three weeks ago. Previously, you worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a Behavioral Analysis profiler and your career was more than exemplarily. Your work with children in particular is well noted in your files as you have a Masters degree in child psychology, need I go on?" She smiled at her.

Emily stared at her, "Who are you really?"

"I work at the Embassy as an interpreter." Then she spoke in Farsi. "Please help me protect my children. They are in danger."

Emily frowned as she leaned forward and replied in Farsi, "What kind of danger?"

Noor shook her head, "I'm afraid I cannot tell you more, the children must not go back to Egypt. Will you help my children?"

Emily thought for a while before she nodded and said in English, "Sure, I will."

Noor relaxed, "Thank you, Emily. Egypt is indebted to you."

Emily shook her head, "Not a problem. I have to tell you, after a month, Declan and I will be moving to London." She gave Noor the date of their departure.

Noor nodded, "I'll be back by then. But just in case, let me give you their passports." She handed Emily the two booklets and a piece of paper. "These are numbers you can reach me at both the Embassy and in Egypt. And a point of contact, an old friend of ours, Anwar Fayad, he is the Minister of Egyptian Antiquities."

Emily took them from her and nodded. "They'll be fine and thank goodness they're out of diapers, too." Emily joked.

Noor and Elizabeth looked at her and laughed, "American humor, I like them. Your daughter is very charming, Elizabeth." Noor smiled as they stood by the doorway.

Elizabeth looked at Emily and smiled, "Yes she can be funny when she wants to be."

Emily then called the children down from Declan's room so they could bring in their luggages.

Emily explained to Declan that Amun and Jamilla were staying with them for a month. Declan was over the moon to have his school friend over. The two began making plans as Noor bade her daughter goodbye.

Elizabeth thanked Emily for her help and kindness in opening her house to the two children.

Emily shook her head as she could see that these two children would not pose any problem at all.

After the Ambassador and Noor left, Emily turned to the children and ask them if they wanted to do anything in particular.

Declan asked if he could get a new video game for his game console.

Emily grinned and decided to have lunch out and visited the mall. The other kids smiled as they wanted to check out the book store and of course clothes, and as suggestions came out Emily ushered them out the door and into the car and drove them to the mall and while Declan and Amun went to the video game store, Emily took Jamilla to the clothing department where Emily hoped to loosen the nervous young girl.

It was while Emily was waiting outside the dressing room waiting for Jamilla to come out of the dressing room as she was trying on an outfit that she received a call from Sean Hotchner.

"Oh crap! I forgot about him coming over to dinner!" she muttered as she answered the phone.

"Hi!"

"Hey Emily, how are you?"

"Sean, great! Having a blast at the mall."

He groaned playfully, "I'm glad I'm not there."

"It's not that bad, I have not spent anything…yet." She eyed the pile of clothes Jamilla had picked.

"That's a shocker!" He teased. "Hey, Emily I have a slight change of plans."

"Oh, don't tell me you're backing out of our date?" Emily stopped smiling, feeling disappointed.

"Actually no. Remember the dinner for three?"

"Yeah?" Emily began to grin, "What's going on?"

"We're going to have one more guest. It's my nephew Jack."

Emily widened her smile, "Jack! Of course! Are you babysitting too?"

"Yeah…what do you mean too?"

"Well, funny you should mention adding." She laughed.

"This is beginning to sound like something from some kind of comical movie and we're the main stars, aren't we?" Sean chuckled.

Emily briefly explained to him the situation she was in.

"So," Sean was laughing now. "Let me see, we kind of started with two…well three. Then four with Jack, now we're going to have two more with these two foreign kids. So, half a dozen."

"Are you sure you're not in over your head on this, Chef Hotchner?" Emily grinned.

"Piece of cake, no pun intended… Speaking of cake…"

"We'll buy a ready-made one. I don't think you have the time to make one anyways," she looked at her watch and saw it was past 2pm. "Wow, I guess I'd have to get out of here if I'd have to pick you and Jack up and shop for food and you're going to cook before breakfast tomorrow."

"Hey, hey, hey! You can't rush a gourmet cook." He fired back.

"Okay, can you give me about an hour or so?" She asked.

"No problem, Jack and I are working on a masterpiece Lego structure. I think it's a leaning tower of, what's this Jack?...are you sure? The artist currently known as Jack insists it's Pisa but if you ask me, it's more like a disaster" he whispered the last part to Emily.

She started laughing loudly, causing the other shopper to give her weird looks, Emily quickly looked away as she saw Jamilla coming out. "Okay, Siskel and Ebert, I've got to go, I'll see you in an hour."

She ended the call as she nodded her approval at the new outfit Jamilla had picked. "This is very chic, Jamilla. I like it. Conservative but sassy, you like it?"

"Yes I do, Emily. I'd like to buy it."

Emily grinned, "It's a good thing your mother gave me the credit card and no spending limits, and a clothing list."

Jamilla smiled, "Mother said I've grown two inches and needed replacement dresses." She help Emily picked up the selections."

"I've got to get the guys to meet up. We're picking the chef and we're having another kid for dinner." Emily explained to Jamilla as the salesclerk was ringing up the clothes as Emily sent a text to Declan.

"You have to pick up your hired help, Emily?" Jamilla asked in confusion.

Emily shook her head, "No, no, the chef, he's a friend. I've invited him for dinner and he's going to cook for us. He's from New York and here on a visit with family members so he doesn't have his car here."

Jamilla nodded in understanding.

When they met up with Declan and Amun, Emily saw that he also had a large bag as Emily smiled at her son, "Just one game, huh?"

Declan blushed, "Well, we saw some other games that looked fun, and since Jamilla is going to be here for a while, we got her something too."

"That's nice of you, Dec. Okay, we have to pick up Sean and Jack."

"Jack?" Declan asked.

"Yeah, you remember him from last night? Sean has to baby sit him too, is it okay?"

Declan nodded and turn to Amun and said, "He's about Jamilla's age. I have a PS3 and an Xbox, we can all play different kind of games."

Amun nodded, "That sounds fine."

Emily shook her head, "Kids and their games and electronic gadgets!"

They laughed at her as they climbed into backseat of the car.

She looked at the suddenly growing brood and muttered, "All these kids and I didn't even birth a single one of them. Getting crowded in here, maybe I should invest in a bigger car or geez, a friggin' minivan! Blech! Now I sound like a suburban mother." She grimaced as she drove out of the mall and headed to Hotch's place. "Hey guys," She looked up in the rearview mirror as she grinned at Declan. "Do I look like a soccer mom?"

Declan leaned forward and looked at Amun who was laughing quietly as he shook his head. "No, not even close." He was giggling as well as Jamilla. "You look too hip to be a soccer mom, Mom."

"Too hip? That's a good thing isn't it?" She grinned as she turned on some music.

…

End of Chapter 4


	5. Chapter 5

BAU: Book of the Dead – Chapter 5

.

When Sean opened the back door to let Jack in, Jack exclaimed with surprise when he recognized Jamilla!

"What are you doing here?" He asked her as he climbed in.

Emily turned around, "You two know each other?"

Jack nodded, "Jamilla goes to my school, Emily."

She grinned at Sean as he hopped into the passenger seat, "What do you know? Jack knows my new girlfriend."

Jamilla beamed.

Sean glanced at her and then turned around to Jack.

Jack nodded excitedly, "Uncle Sean, this is Jamilla, she's my classmate!"

He smiled at her, "Hello Jack's classmate, nice to meet you."

She nodded at him shyly, "He's silly," she said to Jack.

Jack shrugged, "I think all uncles are like that but he's fun."

She nodded and began chatting with Jack softly.

"And," Emily said, "The other young man is Jamilla's older brother, Amun."

Sean turned to him and smiled at him, "Hello Amun, nice to meet you as well."

Amun nodded at him and said, "It's nice to meet you too, Mr. Sean."

"Uh, Sean will do, Amun." He grinned and turned around and glanced at Emily, "Quite a brood you have back there. Have you consider a…."

Emily shook her head, "Don't say it, Sean. Don't even breathe that word."

He chuckled, "All I'm saying, one more kid and you'll have a basketball team."

Emily broke into a fit of laughter. "I don't even understand the game."

Sean shook his head and muttered, "Typical woman."

"Hey, you know I'm not a typical woman." She glared at him peripherally.

"All right, tell me, what kind of sports do you like?" He challenged her.

Emily thought for a moment and realized she couldn't answer him.

He leaned close to her, "Can't think of any? Or you just don't know anything about sports?"

Emily felt goose bumps developing where he breathed on her and smiled, "Both."

"That's a shame, Emily." He said as he leaned back and looked at her. "Might have to educate you."

She shook her head, "I don't think I have time for that, Sean. I'm too busy with work and now I have a son and new responsibility, nope," she shook her head emphatically. "There's no time for it."

"Ah but that's it!" He argued. "You have a son now. You can take him to a sports game! Jack likes soccer. And he's in a soccer team, Aaron takes out time for him and even coach in his team."

She glanced at him, "I'll think about that and I'll let Declan decide what he wants to do."

Sean shook his head, "That's such a lame answer but hey, that's your kid."

She frowned at him, "Are we having our first argument already and we're not even a …a couple?" She arched a brow at him.

He returned her look, "I'm sorry, Emily. I shouldn't have press you about this. Let's just forget about the whole thing and start all over again."

She looked ahead at the road and nodded, "Hi, I'm Emily, nice to meet you."

He started laughing as he shook his head, "All right, all right. Just get to a grocery store, will you?"

She chuckled, "Where do you think I'm headed to?" as she pulled into a supermarket.

"Wise-ass." He muttered under his breath.

"I heard that, and unfortunately you're not the only one that had cal…" Her smile faltered as she left the sentence hung mid-air and she frowned and shook her head. "Never mind." She parked the car and turned the ignition off and got out as the kids did too.

Sean kept watching her as he came around the car and caught up with her, "Em, are you okay?"

She looked up at him, "Yeah, why?"

"You just left without finishing what you were saying?"

She smiled, "I forgot what I was going to say, Sean. It must not be important." She turned to make sure all the kids were with them as she did a quick head count.

"Okay guys, how about sticking together? And if you want something just grab it and toss it in the cart, you too Jack." She grinned at him.

He nodded as he walked with Jamilla.

Amun and Jamilla were in awed; they had never been in a supermarket before as their servants usually did the shopping for the family as well as cook for them.

Sean had grabbed a cart and was ahead of them, picking out items he needed for the dinner. Emily was sandwiched between Amun and Jamilla after a while as they began quizzing her about the food items that were displayed on the shelves.

"All the food, they come in boxes?" Amun's eyes were wide in wonder.

"Yeah, usually there's instruction in the back." She picked a box and turned it over and showed him. "It gives you a step by step instruction on how to cook. Look, step 1: Get a boiler. So you have to get a boiler."

"What's a boiler?" Jamilla asked her.

Emily looked at her, "A cooking pot, usually a medium size pot."

"Then why do they call it a boiler? Why not a cooking pot?" She asked again.

Emily bit the inside of her cheeks, "I guess they want to make it sound fancy or something but the bottom line, it's a pot." She replaced the box. And they moved on. Jack and Declan were with Sean as he made his selection at the meat department.

Emily suddenly asked the two siblings, "Uh, do you guys have any meat restrictions? I mean are you Muslims?"

They nodded.

She rushed at once to where the Sean was.

"Oh hey! Sean… a moment." She pulled him aside and explained to him about their religion and particular food restriction.

Sean's expression was at best described; deflated as he shook his head and began to pull out items from his cart and handed a pack of bacon to Declan so he could returned it back to the shelf.

Emily grinned as she felt bad for him but she had to watch for the children and be circumspect to their religion as well.

"Well, it will be a fairly decent gourmet dinner this evening." Sean uttered dejectedly. "Might as well go out there and begin chewing on that patch of grass."

She smacked his shoulder lightly, "Behave Sean, and quit whining."

"There goes my menu…all down the toilet…bye, bye." Then he spotted the seafood department and his eyes gleamed as he turned to Emily. "What about seafood? Tell me they can eat fish?"

"Our cook has prepared fish before."Amun spoke to him. "But I don't think shellfish is allowed."

Sean stared at him, "Fish huh? I can do fish. No problem." He approached the seafood counter.

"And vegetables." Jamilla chimed in.

"I don't like veggies." Jack said as he stood beside her.

Emily dropped her shoulders in defeat, "Not one kind of green?"

He shook his head, "They taste nasty."

Emily looked grimly at Declan, "What about you, son?"

"No garlic or onions, they make me sick." He said as he pointed at the items in the cart.

Emily walked up to Sean and tapped on his shoulder, "Houston, we have a problem."

He looked at her quizzically, "What now?"

She began to explain to him about all the problems with the kids.

Sean looked at each of them and back to Emily, "It's just like running a restaurant. Every customer has a preference. No problem, we'll make some adjustment here and there. Piece of cake…speaking of which….why don't you go with them and get one?" He smiled at her.

She looked at him and suddenly reached up and kissed him hard on his lips, "You're great!" and turned to the kids. "All right you minions. Let's go get a cake."

They nodded and followed her to the Bakery department.

And Emily wished Sean hadn't suggested it!

"I don't like Carrot cake."

"They put real carrots in cake?"

"I don't like chocolate."

"No strawberry for me."

"I like cupcakes!"

"What are cupcakes? Do we eat it in a cup?"

"Why do they call it cupcake? It doesn't look like a cup."

"What is cheesecake?"

"Do they use cheese?"

"Like goat's cheese? They use that to make cake? That doesn't sound good."

Emily began to hit her head on the glass display case. "Why me?"

"Can I help you, ma'am?" The bakery sales person asked her.

She looked up and shook her head, "All I want is just one cake. One cake, that's all." She turned to look at the four children. "And they can't decide…"

The sales person grinned, "Oh, bless your heart, all these children…but I have just the right one for you, we don't usually display this because it's not…pretty looking but it's functional to your needs."

She came back holding a large box and tilted it for Emily and the kids, they ooh'ed and aah'ed and nodded, "Yeah… we like this one!"

"I'll take it." Emily grabbed the box. "Thanks, what's in it by the way?" She asked her.

"Oh, everything. That's why we call it the Everything Cake." She grinned. "You really don't want to know, just enjoy it."

"Thank you!" Emily smiled happily as she held it and search for Sean.

As she turned to the next aisle, she heard a male and female laughter and found Sean standing close to a young woman wearing a pair of very short shorts and a tee-shirt that exposed her midriff and she had a large decorative belly-button ring, which Sean was currently holding on to as he continued to laugh while the young lady giggled.

"…so, it doesn't hurt when I tug it?" He asked.

Giggle girl giggled more, "No not at all, well like at first, it was like really hurting but like, after a while it like totally don't. But I like really totally like love it! All my friends like have done like one of like this too. You should like get one too. I like know this cool guy like his name is Mike and like he does it on the side and like he doesn't like charge much. I mean like seriously, you should like get one. I have a tongue done too!" She stuck her tongue out and showed it to him.

Sean leaned in closely to examine it, "Oh…yeah. That looks pretty cool but I don't think I care to have one in my mouth." He grinned at her. "I'd probably like to feel it on someone else." He said smoothly.

Emily rolled her eyes and began to smile as a mischievous glint twinkled in her eyes, as she turned to the kids and said, "Play along with me guys!"

Then she turned back and walked up to Sean, "Hey honey!" She called to him loudly. "Our children are ready to go and junior," she made to rub her belly. "Wants some pickles and chocolate pretzels together." She placed the box of cake in the cart.

Sean and the girl turned to look at Emily and her brood. "Oh, hey Emily…er…"

Emily leaned over and greeted the young lady, "Oh hello, I see you found my hubby, he's so friendly, isn't he?" She smiled as she slid her hand around his waist. "That's how we met all those years ago, in an aisle in a supermarket just like this, isn't it honey?" She squeezed him. Then she spread her arms and showed the young girl the four children. "And twelve years later, all these beautiful children! And one on the way or maybe two?"

The young girl arched her brow and gave him a look, "Yeah, like I have to go find the can of tuna," she turned away quickly and left.

"I think it's in aisle four!" Emily called out after her hurriedly retreating back as she began to laugh, bending over as she put her hands on her knees.

The kids were giggling too at them.

Sean was looking at the ceiling as he shook his head, "Not funny at all, Emily. I mean it's not my fault she struck a conversation about the length of my baguettes."

Emily straightened up and glanced at the kids, "Er…let's keep the conversation to PG rating."

Sean nodded, "Sorry. I …yeah forgot about them…are we ready to check out?"

She nodded as she chuckled, the kids followed them.

Sean turned to her, "You know, if you ever get bored with your day job, you should try your hand in comedy central, they're always hiring lousy comedians."

…..

Hotch picked Beth up from her apartment and headed to a restaurant.

"Where's Jack?" Beth asked.

"Sean is babysitting." Hotch said.

Beth smiled, "That's so sweet of him, a nice uncle and nephew time."

He nodded as he reached over and held her hand. "I thought it would be nice for us to have some time alone."

"Thank you, I'd like that, where are we going?"

He smiled at her, "Your favorite Italian restaurant, Bella Italia."

Beth frowned, "Aaron…my favorite restaurant is Carini's."

Hotch arched his brow, "I'm so sorry Beth, I don't know why I thought it was ….never mind. Carini's it is."

"But if we're at Bella Italia, it's fine." Beth said.

Hotch shook his head, "No, we're going to your favorite restaurant Beth. It's no problem." He drove out of the parking lot and drove into the road and was soon on the way.

"Aaron, are you all right? You look distracted."

"Me? No, not at all Beth."

He drove for a while.

"How was your day?" She asked.

Silence.

"Aaron?"

No response.

Beth placed her hand on his thigh and he startled as he glanced over to her, "Beth? Is something wrong?"

"I don't know, you tell me Aaron, I asked you how your day was and you didn't reply. It's as if you were not here."

"I'm here Beth."

Beth sighed, "Aaron, what is going on?"

"Nothing is going on."

They became silent again until they arrived at the restaurant.

It was slightly crowded when they arrived so they had to wait for a while; Hotch brought Beth a drink while he stuck with iced water as he was driving and it was a work night.

Twenty minutes later, they were finally seated as they looked at their menus.

After they'd placed their orders, Hotch looked at Beth and could not find anything to talk about.

Naturally his work was taboo for dinner conversation with her. He had tried it once and saw it had not worked well at all. She tried to be interested but she was more in tune with her career and that was arts.

He recalled he took someone else out to dinner one weekend and they ended up staying past closing time at the restaurant!

He still remembered their conversation as it had been stimulating, _she_ had been stimulating.

"Aaron, you're doing it again." Beth said. "Aaron?" She sighed.

Hotch blinked and brought himself back to the present and smiled at Beth, "I'm sorry, Beth. It's work. We have a case coming in and we're just waiting."

Beth nodded, "I'm sorry Aaron. I didn't know. I wish I understand about your work, your job but they are so…horrifying. I don't know how you could…" she shook her head. "I don't want to talk about it. But art," She smiled. "Who doesn't like art? Especially children. I really enjoy being with kids, watching their minds open up to all the …."

Hotch stared at Beth but his thoughts strayed to another …_she was also animated when she talked. Her hands were flailing all over as she described her side of a take-down, and she knocked down a tray of drinks from a server. He had not laughed so much in his life!_

"…artists like Picasso and Rembrandt, so many people still don't know who they were and they did not appreciate their method arts….." Beth continued.

Just then their food came, but Beth frowned at her order.

"Something wrong, Beth?" Hotch looked at her as he was about to dig into his Fettuccini with Portobello and creamy sauce.

"I wanted extra grated cheese in my pasta and no marinara sauce in it."

Hotch placed his fork down and flagged a server down and explained to him on her order, he nodded and took her plate away.

"I'm sorry Aaron. You go ahead and eat."

He shook his head, "I'll wait. I'm not that hungry anyways. You were telling me about those artists?"

She smiled as she began to describe the children in the exhibit.

"There was a little girl, she was about 7 and she tried to touch a Picasso painting, can you imagine our horrors? Sometimes I wish parents would teach their children to respect true…"

He smiled as he listened to her and again his thoughts veered off to _her_ again…_this time she was talking to a little 6 year old girl as she was calming her down; they found her in a room with her dead sister and they needed her help in identifying the killer, Emily had used crayons and art paper she found in her bedroom and talked with her and an hour later, they arrested the neighbor based on her childish drawing but a key picture she had drawn helped pinned him down; his star tattoo on his right arm sealed his fate._

_They found him hiding in another family's house, they had a teenage girl too. She was the next target._

Her food came at last and she began to eat but Hotch's was cold and it was not as appetizing anymore.

As soon as they were done, Hotch paid for the food and they left.

"Where would you like to go Beth?" Aaron held her hand as he led her to his car.

"Well, I have an early appointment with a new intern at the museum and then a training session with Hannah my other intern before four art classes to show, so I was thinking of getting an early night. I wanted to be fresh and ready tomorrow."

Hotch nodded, "I'll drop you off at your place." He looked at his watch; it was only after 8pm.

Maybe he'll spend some time with Sean and Jack at home, they should be back wherever they had went.

An hour later, after he had bid his fiancé a good night, he went home.

But it was dark and quiet in his apartment.

"Sean!" He called out but there was no answer and no one was in the guest room.

He sighed as he pulled out his cell phone and called his brother.

"Sean, where are you? And Jack?" He walked around his apartment and it looked too quiet.

_Oh hey bro!_

Hotch could hear laughter and noises; _well, at least someone is having fun_, Hotch thought.

I'm at Emily's…and Jack's here with me...or us…hey pass the salt, thank you. You like the blackened fish, Jamilla? I told you, you'll like it, sweetie.

"Sounds like you have a house full." Hotch could barely hear him. Who's Jamilla?

"What? Oh…It is like the Brady Bunch here! You should come, what's one more, right Em? That's sauté baby red potatoes with rosemary…no garlic, you're welcome Declan and no bacon, you're welcome too, Amun and Jamilla. Aaron, this is a tough crowd to cook, I tell you! So many food restriction but we made it…by the way since when did Jack boycott veggies?"

"Huh?" Hotch chuckled as he tried to follow his brother's conversation. "Jack is scamming you, Sean. He eats all kinds of vegetables at Jessica's."

"Hey, Jack!" Sean yelled out. "You're busted, buster. Your dad's on the phone and he says you eat veggies, so here's the asparagus, and broccoli, oh come on! You'll like the way I made it. Look the others like it, right Amun bro? See? No, it's cooked with olive oil…that's all I'm cooking them in. Don't insult the chef, Emily. Just eat and enjoy."

"Looks like you're in charge."

"You bet I am! I told you when I'm cooking, the chef's in charge, right guys?" There was a loud unified assent in the background. "Haha! I like to hear that. Hey, why are you calling here Aaron? I thought you're out with Beth?"

"I did but she needed an early night so I dropped her off at her place and came home."

"What? She ditched you?"

"No Sean! She has to work early tomorrow."

"Okay…er...wait….hang on.."

There was a pause as Hotch could hear kids talking and laughing; exactly how many kids are there in the house?

"…are you sure? I'll ask him. Hey Aaron, Emily wants to know if you want to come over. I mean we have four kids here and it's a mad house, plenty of food, if you haven't eaten. Beer for the adults, milk for the kids."

"I have to work, Sean."

"Okay, beer for the adults, milk for the kids and iced water for the designated driver."

Hotch chuckled, "Are you sure you want me there?"

"Emily…he's being shy…Aaron, she insists."

He grinned, "Okay, I'll be there in 15min."

"Cool, see you then bro."

Hotch ended the call; _she insists_….

He grabbed his keys and left his house again and drove to her house.

….

"Minister Fayad," the Director of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Egypt was on the phone.

_Yes?_

"I have a situation, the wall relief that is on display in Section C."

_What about the display?_

"The wall is a blank."

_What do you mean blank?_

The carved relief that depicted Ra was gone and was the writings too.

_I'll be there shortly._

"Yes, Minister."

The director stared at the blank wall and found it mysterious; he had seen the same wall relief every morning since the digger cut it out of the actual wall and brought it to the Museum. It was a relief depicting the Sun god Ra overlooking Amun the king of Gods as Amun wore the crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt and carrying both scepters of the two Kingdoms. The words carved so clearly stating they were Ra and Amun were completely gone, as well as the carvings of Ra and Amun. It was as though someone had swapped the stone walls but it would have been impossible; the back of the wall was riveted into the wall of the room and weighed at least 2 tons!

The floor around the relief was clean; if the wall was moved about, dirt and sand would be on the ground.

What was going on?

…

End of Chapter 5


	6. Chapter 6

BAU: The Book of the Dead – Chapter 6

.

When Hotch entered the Prentiss household, he was greeted by the sound of shoutings and laughter.

His brow arched, he followed Declan into the family den where he found his son and brother on the carpet in front of the TV and they were playing a video game while the others, Declan and a dark haired boy slightly shorter than Declan laughing with them. Emily was sitting on another couch watching with a little girl on her lap. They seemed to be cheering Jack on.

"Faster, Jack! Come on, press it! Get him!" They were yelling.

"Aw come on!"Sean was trying his best as he held a control pad in front of him, his right thumb moving as fast as possible. "I'm trying…why is everyone cheering for Jack? What about me? Don't I have a cheering section?"

"No, you're bigger than Jack." Emily laughed. "And you're the one that wanted to challenge a 9 year old."

"Come on Jack! Just a bit more!" Declan urged him and then it was over as the room filled with a cacophony of screams and yells for Jack as Sean fell backwards, lying on his back, "No love for your Uncle Sean, Jack."

Jack laughed as he launched himself on Sean and tackled him on the carpet where they began to wrestle for fun as Sean let Jack put him in a strangle-hold, rendering the others into more laughter.

Jack stood up holding his arms up like a wrestler, "I am the champion!" in his fiercest voice.

"And the champ is about to be defeated!" Sean grabbed him from the waist and pulled him down and began tickling him reducing the youngster into fits of giggles and laughter.

"Stop! No, no…"

"Do you yield, Jack?" Sean continued to tickle him. "Say it!"

Jack nodded as he tried to keep Sean from tickling him, "Okay..okay, I yield Uncle Sean! I yield!"

Sean grinned, "Now, I'm the champion." He said as he turned to wink at Emily.

"You are the champion of bully, Sean." Hotch chimed in, startling everyone except for Declan.

Emily and Jamilla turned to greet him as Emily introduced the younger girl and her brother to Hotch.

Sean stood up, "Okay, you guys can have your game back, thanks for letting me have a few rounds."

They nodded as they fell onto the carpet as they distributed the control pads and began playing by themselves.

"Hey Aaron." Sean greeted him.

"I see you got your butt beaten by a 9 year old, huh?" Hotch grinned, his dimples deepening.

Emily was in the kitchen getting some iced water for Hotch. The men were standing near the counter across from her.

"Well, I have to let him win, you know." Sean grinned boyishly.

Emily and Hotch exchange a knowing look as Emily shook her head, "Come on Sean, you got waxed by a kid."

Sean hung his head down, "Yeah, that was scandalous and embarrassing."

"It was but it's okay, Declan once told me that these games were not meant for intelligent adults like us." Emily chuckled as she stood beside Hotch.

"What were you guys playing? WWF Pro Wrestling?" Hotch inquired.

"Um, no. It's Super Mario Brothers Racing." Emily tried to keep a straight face as she said it.

Hotch glanced at her and then back at his brother and shook his head, "Sean, I'm ashamed to call you my brother."

Sean frowned, "Okay, big brother why don't you get in there and try your hand at it?"

Hotch shook his head, "I think I'm smarter than to try to compete against these kids who probably played the game a lot more than you and I have, so no thank you. I'm not going in there and get spanked by my son."

"Chicken." Emily teased him.

He nodded, "Now, that I'm not afraid to admit." He smiled at her. "I'm man enough to know my limitations."

Sean shook his head, "I think you're just getting old, Aaron."

"Not old Sean, just wiser. When you have kids, you'll know."

"I take it you've played against Jack before? And lost?" Emily began to laugh.

Hotch nodded, "He's been playing that game for a few months and I can't beat him every time we played."

Sean began to laugh, "That little con man, he told me he'd never played it before!"

Hotch and Emily began to laugh, "You're so out of your elements, Uncle Sean!" Emily teased him.

"I guess I am." He looked down in defeat. Then he glanced up at Emily. "Maybe it's time I settle down and have some kids of my own, then I won't be so completely out of my element." He kept his gaze on her.

Hotch frowned, "I'll go check on the kids." He left abruptly.

Sean walked up to Emily and placed each hand on either side of her effectively blocking her way out.

"Sean, what are you doing?" She smiled at him.

"I like this look of yours, so warm, gooey and sweet." He glanced down at her lips.

"Sean…."Emily was gazing into his clear blue eyes.

"I just want some of this warm gooey and sweet feeling inside me…" he leaned down and was about to kiss her when…

"Mom! I'm thirsty!" Declan was running into the kitchen when he stopped before them with his eyes wide open. "Oh…"

Emily turned to look at her son and smile as she pushed Sean away from her and straightened up, "What do you need, Dec?"

"Can I have more milk, please?" He glanced from Sean and then to his mom and back at Sean. "What are you and Sean doing?"

"Ah…adult things." Emily replied as she poured him a glass of milk and handed it to him, her face was blush red.

"Thanks Mom!" He turned away and walked back to the den with his milk.

Sean shook his head, "I see this is how having kids is going to be."

She nodded as she stood across from him. "Yes, and they come first."

He nodded, "Yeah, I see that too. But I think I can do it."

Emily smiled, "Of course you can, Sean. Kids are great, especially Declan and Jack's age, they're so smart and keep you on your toes."

He chuckled, "I know, especially Jack."

"Jack is a great kid, very perceptive yet he has a sensitive side too."

Sean narrowed his gaze, "Are you doing that profiling crap on my nephew? I thought you're not a profiler anymore."

"Once a profiler, always will be, Sean, we can't just forget that part of us and no, I'm not profiling Jack, just observing him while he interacted with Declan, Amun, and Jamilla."

"He likes Jamilla," Sean grinned. "And the crush is returned."

Emily nodded, "Yes, they do. Just don't let Hotch know about it, I don't know if he's ready for little girls who have a crush on him which is so cute at their age!"

"Who's got a crush at a cute age?" Hotch came in with Jack.

Blushing, Emily shook her head as she smiled at him, "Nothing, just talking about kids and responsibility."

"Then you're not talking about Sean."

"Hey Aaron! I'm having some second thoughts here, how about some support?"

Hotch chuckled, "Sorry Sean but I can't see you in a fatherly role …yet. That image of you holding a baby, changing diapers and burping kids, staying up late at night with them and going to work with less than a few hours of sleep."

"Aaron, you're supposed to encourage me not discouraging." Sean shook his head.

"Just showing you the good and the bad although there's no bad in all of it as it's part of the package deal when you have kids."

"Okay, okay." He held his hands in defeat. "I get the picture. It's something I have to think hard about."

Emily and Hotch nodded together.

"So, is there any chance of some food left?" Hotch asked as he stood by Emily.

Sean perked up, "Yes! We do, let me heat you up some fish and red potatoes and veggies."

While Sean busied himself putting a plate together for his brother, Hotch glanced over to Emily and smiled at her softly, "How's the wound?"

Emily nodded, "It's a lot better but still itches."

"Getting the stitches removed?"

"No, it's those dissolvable type of sutures."

Hotch nodded as his hand brushed hers as he picked up his iced water.

Emily bent her head as she smiled softly.

"Okay, here you are brother, try this." Sean placed a plate in front of Hotch as he began to eat and nodded approvingly.

"Wow, this is great Sean. Seriously, this is delicious. Thanks little brother."

Sean beamed, "I am good for something, aren't I?" He winked at Emily who giggled in return.

"Mom?" Declan came back with his empty glass.

"Yeah Dec?"

"Can we have something to eat?" He asked.

Emily nodded, "How about that Everything cake?" She moved away from Hotch as she brushed against his back and walked to the 'fridge. Hotch dropped his fork onto his plate as he cleared his throat. "The potatoes are delicious too, Sean."

He beamed.

Declan nodded with a grin, "I'm going to ask the others if they want some." He ran off.

"Everything cake?" Hotch asked her with a skeptical look.

Emily laughed and told him about her 'ordeal' at the bakery department.

"…so in truth, she really took pity on me and passed me this cake which I think is a practice cake for a trainee baker." She looked at it as she slid the content from the box.

Sean and Hotch were laughing at it, "That is the ugliest cake I've ever seen, I hope you didn't pay full price for it." He turned around to get some plates from the cabinet and forks in the drawer.

Emily checked on the price tag and grinned, "She charged me only half the cost."

"Let's hope it's edible." Hotch frowned at it. "What is this supposed to be?"

"I think it's …butter pecan." She took a taste and nodded, "Yup, butter pecan with a hint of chocolate mint. It's really good, here try it." She held a fork with a piece of cake and raised it to Hotch who unconsciously bit into it and nodded, "Oh yeah, butter pecan, chocolate mint and I think there's a bit of peanut butter."

"Thank goodness none of the kids have peanut allergy." Emily said as she began to scoop slices into plates as the children came in.

"Okay guys, just grab a plate, this is really good and it's got everything in it."

"Just like the lady said, Everything cake." Jamilla nodded as she bit on a piece. "It is good, Emily. I like it."

"Yeah me too. " Jack smiled at Jamilla. "How come we never have this before, Dad?" he looked at Hotch.

"Because I've never heard of this…flavor before." He'd finished his dinner as he pulled a plate of cake to him and began eating it.

Emily had finished hers and reached over and took a piece of cake from Hotch's as he shook his head. "Why do you always filch my food?"

"It always tastes better from your plate," she laughed.

Sean frowned as he watched their exchanges. "You two do this often?"

Emily and Hotch looked at Sean in stunned expression. "Er…yah." Emily nodded as she recovered quickly. "When I'm still at the BAU with your brother, we'd eat out all the time and all of us would order different kinds of food so we can try each other's. Kind of like a mini-buffet."

Hotch looked at Sean and nodded, "Yes, especially when we have Chinese food. We get to try different dishes."

Emily nodded, "And Hotch always picks the best pieces so JJ and I used to make a game of filching his plate. Especially when he's talking to Dave and not looking." She laughed as Hotch shook his head at her.

Sean nodded as he accepted their explanation, "Sounds like you guys are all pretty close."

"When you work with five other people on a constant basis, and most time we worked more than 12 hours a day together, and especially out in the field, we see each other day and night, it's not surprising we're close like a family. In more sense than anything, Dave, Emily, JJ, Derek, Reid and even Garcia are my family." Hotch said.

Emily nodded, "Even though I'm not with the BAU team anymore that didn't mean I'm not part of them. I still Skyped regularly with Garcia and JJ, and Dave is planning on expanding his book tour and make it an international one beginning with a London stop."

"Really?" Hotch smiled. "That rascal haven't told me that, all he asked was an extended leave, which by the way coincide Strauss' vacation time."

Emily arched her brow, "Dave and Strauss?" Hotch shrugged emphatically. "Who'd thought?" Emily grinned as she reached over and forked the last piece of cake from Hotch's plate.

He chuckled, "Pig."

She smiled as she slipped the piece into her mouth slowly keeping her gaze at him, "Good to the last drop."

Hotch suddenly turned red and began to cough hard.

Emily reached over and patted his back and slid his iced water, "Here, drink this."

He cleared his throat, "…I'm fine." He took a deep gulp of his drink and muttered; minx, under his breath.

Sean was talking to Amun and Declan at the moment so he missed Hotch's and Emily's exchange.

She grinned at him as she leaned close to him, "Just want to make sure you remember some things." She whispered as she grabbed his glass of water and drank from it.

"Em! Will you behave?" Hotch leaned close to her as he took his glass back from her as he held her hand and the glass a little longer before they separated.

She nodded as she giggled again.

Hotch breathed out as he placed the glass down with a slightly shaky hand.

He shook his head as he gave her a quick glance and his dimples deepened.

"It's time for us to go home." He uttered and then under his breath, "And a damn cold shower for me."

Emily chuckled at him as she arched a brow, "We could have a hot one together…like we used to."

Hotch leaned into her, "Will you stop it, minx!" and he stepped away from her and turned to look for his son.

It was getting late as Jack and Jamilla began to yawn. Hotch turned to Sean, "Sean, it's Jack bedtime, ready to go?"

Sean glanced at Emily who was laughing with Amun and Declan at the moment and turned to Hotch and nodded, "Yeah, I'm beat."

They approached Emily and thanked her for inviting them.

"Oh no, thanks Sean for the superb dinner you cooked, you truly are a genius in the kitchen."

Sean beamed as he shook his head, "It was my pleasure, Emily. I'm glad the kids enjoyed themselves."

"Oh, I'm sure they did." She smiled at them.

"Have a good night Em, we'll see you around whenever." He opened and waved to her.

Hotch and Jack said their goodnight to them too as they left for the night.

…

Hassan and Noor, Amun and Jamilla's parents were standing in the terminal of the airport. She looked sad, "I may never see them again."

Hassan shook his head, "No, not here my dear. Not in this life time but we will see them again." He then nodded to his body guards as they led them to the tarmac and to their private jet.

"Is Fayad ready to receive us?" Noor said as she recovered.

He nodded. "He is but I'm not sure he is the choice."

Noor looked up at her husband, "He is the perfect choice, he has the knowledge, and the Book."

"He'd better or he'll pay a heavy price for his betrayal."

"He knows his position when he accepts his position and he is well rewarded."

Settling inside the plane they continued, "And what about the protector of our children?" he asked her.

"Amun has chosen well, she is nice, I like her."

"But we need two protectors." Hassan looked at her.

She nodded, "Jamilla will choose her protector in time."

"Let's hope it is soon, the moon is nearing the tip."

They held hands as they prepared themselves.

The private jet took off out of the runway and began to ascend as it headed to Egypt with a one stopover for refueling in London and then straight to Egypt.

….

End of Chapter 6


	7. Chapter 7

BAU: The Book of the Dead – Chapter 7

.

It was early in the morning when Emily received an urgent phone call from her mother.

Amun and Jamilla's parents were missing, their jet never made it to Egypt. The National Transportation Safety Board, NTSB, had launched an investigation.

There was no indication of a distress call from the jet.

The last contact made was from London when they had stopped over for refueling.

The flight plan manifest that was submitted by the pilot was thoroughly examined as well as the Air Traffic Controllers that had spoken to the pilot.

"Mother, what am I to tell the kids?" Emily sat up on her bed.

_At the moment, nothing. Egyptian authorities are keeping this incident as low key as possible._

"You know it won't be long it will be publicly broadcast, especially by the media."

_That's what I'm afraid of, the less exposure the children faced, the better._

"So, what am I to do? Does anyone know they are here?"

_I'm not sure, Emily. I think for now, let's keep it as it is._

"Mother, we have to let someone know. What about the point of contact Noor mentioned?"

_I'll get in touch with him. I'll call you back._

"Okay mother." Emily ended call and got out of bed.

She was at a loss; she had no idea how and if she should tell Amun and Jamilla.

An hour later, she received a call from the Egyptian Minister of Antiquities, Anwar Fayad.

"You are Agent of the INTERPOL?" he asked her.

"Yes, I am." She answered.

"Why are you in America? How did you come to have custody of Amun and Jamilla?"

Emily told him of Noor's visit and the request although she didn't tell him what Noor had warned her.

"Then I will come to America and escort the children back to Egypt."

"Er, I'm afraid you can't do that, Minister."

"Why not, Agent Prentiss? The children are Egyptians."

"I'm well aware of it but as their guardian, I don't think it's a good idea to do so."

"You are their guardian? I am the children's representative."

"No disrespect Minister Fayad but there is a civil unrest in your country at the moment and in the best interest of the children, they should not travel to their homeland."

"I see, I will speak to your Secretary of Defense and Immigration Minister. Good day."

Emily shook her head as she called her mother, "Mother, this Minister wants to take the children back to Egypt and I told him no. He is calling the Sec of Def and Sec of Foreign Affairs."

_Oh dear, did Noor told you something?_

Emily bit her lip and told her what Noor had asked of her.

_I see, well we must respect the mother's wishes_.

"But it's not written legally. I cannot hold them."

_You're their guardian, I'm the witness to this verbal request and agreement._

"Mother, this is no time to play politics. I'm thinking of the kids."

_I'm aware of it, Emily. But we have to consider the political implication as well._

Emily groaned, "How did I get roped into this?"

_I'll call back, I have a meeting to attend._

"Yeah, bye."

Biting her inner lip, Emily called Hotch.

Hotchner.

"Hotch, it's Emily."

_Hi, this is a pleasant surprise. How are you?_

Emily couldn't help but smile, "Well, strange you should ask."

_Why? What is going on?_

Emily quickly explained to him about the strange request from the kids' mother and what was happening now. "So, what am I supposed to do?" She asked him.

He was quiet for a while

_Let me make a few phone calls and I get back with you._

"Thanks Hotch."

_Not a problem, Em. Have you told the children?_

"No, not yet. Should I?"

_Hold off on that until NTSN has something solid._

"Okay."

_I'll see you._ He said softly.

"Yeah."

….

Cairo, Egypt –

"I want the children!" Fayad exclaimed angrily to the Director who was not so calmly sitting across from him. "How dare she kept it from me!"

"Did you ask her to bring the children?"

Anwar narrowed his gaze at him, "It was part of the plan, you idiot!"

"Oh. I didn't know."

"Call the airlines and get me a flight to Virginia."

The director shook his head, "Minister, all government administrative members are prohibited to travel overseas."

"What? When did this memo came about?"

"Yesterday when the protesters burned the US Embassy's building. All the Americans have left Egypt."

"And I can't get to America?"

He shook his head, "I'm afraid not."

Anwar gritted his teeth angrily and picked up a miniature King Tutankhamen's gold mask paper weight and threw it against the wall across from him, it smashed to pieces as it hit the ground.

"I want the children!" He clenched his fist and shook it at the Director.

"I have some contacts in America, they can help us." The director said as he hurried out of the office.

Anwar walked to the window and stared out.

Across from his window, he could see the three ancient pyramids of Giza.

But he was not looking at the pyramids, Anwar was thinking of the strange catacomb about ten miles south from the largest pyramid. An Egyptian archeologist, Toth Bhah had discovered the catacomb a year ago when it was reported a minor earthquake in the region.

At that time, Anwar had just been made the Minister of Antiquities. One evening when he was walking in the quiet of the museum after hours, he spotted two identical enclosed pedestals. Curious, he approached and saw, to his delight that it was the long lost and fabled Book of the Dead.

The Book of the Dead was founded a long time ago, in the early 12th century. It was originally written as a process of burial of the dead. Through time, a royal scribe began to add more than just funerary process, he began to add spells on the texts. Spells that were used for protection and to cast ill will upon the enemy. There were other more powerful and magical spells that when spoken would render the spell speaker more powers.

The Book of the Dead had been in the possession of Prince Hassan's family for many generations, it was and always had been in two halves. His grandfather, who was a non-believer, had finally decided to donate the Book to the museum as well as many items that had been with the family for a very long time. Although that same grandfather willingly donated the Book, he was still slightly superstitious as he had requested the Director of the Museum to not put the two halves together, telling him something terrible would happen if anyone did.

Out of curiosity and not a believer in curses and superstitions, Anwar put both halves together!

A bright spark flashed brightly in his office that almost scared him and at the same moment, the slight tremor happened!

Unknowingly, he had started a curse and he was not aware of it until the next day when it all began as the Egyptian civil unrest began as well. All over Egypt, the people wanted and demanded the President to step down and a military coup took over. Protests and strikes were all over the country.

At the time, he was not aware of anything when Toth Bhah approached him and asked for a funding, he took Anwar to the site of the earthquake which had revealed an opening near one of the three majestic pyramids, the pharaoh Cheops. Thoth was there to inspect, to make sure the quake did not do too much damage to their national treasures. And that was when he found the opening.

As he and Anwar entered the opening, he saw that no one had been inside since it was sealed and he had estimated it was about 2000 years old. As they went further in, they discovered a wall with writings and carvings! It was perfectly preserved. Anwar and Thoth read the inscription out loud and they both saw that it was a curse! But too late, they had said it out loud and initiated it. Thoth fled the site in fear and when Anwar came out of the opening, he found Thoth lying in the ditch, dead. Anwar was not scared at first, he had contributed to his friend's death to him dripping in the dark and fell into the ditch, hitting his head on a large rock.

Returning with a group of diggers, he wanted to move the wall out and into the museum, he had convinced the director that this wall relief of Amun Ra would certainly attract many tourists.

But the diggers, slowly met their deaths mysteriously. Again Anwar refused to believe it was from the curse, after all he was still alive.

At last the relief was in the museum, prominently displayed in the section across from the Book of the Dead.

Until now, when everything had happened since, Anwar now believed that it was the curse that had preset all that had happened, and he didn't know how to reverse the curse as he didn't have the Book of the Dead to help him. He did not even know where it disappeared to!

Now, the Prince and his wife had disappeared and he couldn't get the children and it would be two days till full moon when everything will come to the end. The Egypt he had been born and raised in will soon be all gone, and all because he read the curse out loud.

Anwar left his office and went to the ware house where the wall relief was and looked at it.

He was shocked!

The images were no longer of Amun Ra and Isis but the guards that were dead as well as Thoth. He recognized his friend, although in the relief, he was depicted wearing an ancient Egyptian ceremonial robes and the two security guards were bare chested and wearing loin clothes. But there was no mistaking them.

Thoth was lying on a table, the guards were holding him down as if he was about to be mummified. Several priests in their robes were knelt on the floor, praying for his soul.

Scared, Anwar left the ware house and hurried out of the museum and headed back to his house.

…..

It was late afternoon when Emily brought Declan, Amun, and Jamilla to the BAU. Hotch had been expecting her and the children.

Declan was in awed of the bullpen, "Mom, is this where you used to work?" She nodded. "Cool!"

Amun and Jamilla had been quiet the whole morning. Emily had not told them what was happening to their parents yet.

The jet was still missing.

JJ, Morgan, Garcia were at the bullpen waiting for them. Dave had taken off for his book tour, Strauss had accompanied him although no one was supposed to know but 'secrets' were hard to keep at the BAU section. Reid was still in Las Vegas with his mother.

"Guys, can you keep an eye on them?" Emily asked the adults. They nodded as Emily went up to Hotch's office.

"Hey!" She walked in as his door was opened.

Hotch stood up and went around his desk and sat beside her, "I talked with Sec of Def. They are not very happy with this whole situation."

"That's understandable. I just don't want the kids out of my hands."

Hotch smiled at her, "You like them, don't you?"

She nodded, "They are smart kids."

"We can't hold them, Em."

"I know but I'm their guardian by verbal agreement witnessed by my mother."

"Noor is smart to use your mother. As an ambassador, no one would dare to challenge her words."

"I did wonder why my mother was involve in this whole shebang. Knew she was up to something even though she is not here." She shook her head.

"How are you doing?" He asked softly.

"Me?" She looked at him. "Mad, that Minister of Antiquities shouldn't have threatened me or the kids. He was lucky he was in Egypt and I'm here in Virginia or I'd be using my Glock …"

"Calm down, Em."

She blew a breath up and sighed, "I've a bad feeling about this, Hotch."

Impulsively, he reached over and held her hand, "We'll get through this."

Emily looked at him and nodded, 'Thanks for helping, Hotch. So, are you guys on stand-down?"

He nodded, "We almost had a case in Wyoming but we gave them a preliminary profile of their UnSub and they were able to find and arrest him. So yes, we're here for a while, I'm all yours."

Emily arched her brow at his words, Hotch reddened. "You know what I meant."

She smiled, "Yeah, although I wish…never mind." She frowned.

He looked at her, "I'm sorry, Emily. I don't know what's going on but I am regretting a lot of things…."

"What about Beth?" She frowned at him as she retracted her hand back. "This is all wrong, Hotch. We talked, we agreed and we split. We've moved on and now you're engaged to Beth."

Hotch leaned back on his seat and nodded. "Yeah, I haven't forgotten. Beth is …."

Emily nodded, "What do you think she'd say if she knew you're helping me?"

Hotch shook his head, "I'm helping a friend, Em. She should be able to accept it."

Suddenly, Amun was standing at Hotch's office's doorway.

"Amun, what's wrong?" Emily stood up and brought him into Hotch's office.

"Emily, do you know anything about rebirth?"

Emily and Hotch exchanged concerned looks before she answered, "Yes, it's like born again into another body. Why?"

"Please don't be alarmed but I am Amun, God of all Egyptian gods. I have been reborn into this young body to serve my people in Egypt."

Emily was staring at him, "Amun, you're scaring me."

"Me, too." Hotch added.

Amun shook his head, "Please don't, Emily, Aaron."

Emily and Hotch exchanged stunned looks.

"I know you're shock but I'll explain."

Emily nodded mutely.

"You know about the Egyptian God Ra?" They nodded. "He is the Sun god and it was written that there will be a time of great unrest in the nation and in order to lift the clouds from the Sun God's eye, he has decided to send Amun back to his land to stop the unrest. And I'm that the Sun God had summoned."

"Ra called you?" Emily looked at him.

Amun nodded. "Yes, Emily."

"Amun, let me get this straight," Emily shook her head, "Ra has chosen you as the one to lead his people from this civil unrest that's going on in Egypt currently."

Hotch arched his brow.

"Yes, I am the God of all gods, Amun. Ra has degreed it and it was written in the Book."

"What Book?" Emily asked.

"The Book of the Dead."

"I thought it was a legend, a myth?"

Amun shook his head, "No, it is real. Declan has it."

Emily jumped out of her seat, "What?"

"I gave Declan the Book…well, half of the Book for safe keeping."

"You involved my son in this?"

"Don't worry Emily, he is safe, no harm will come to him. I have made sure of it. You are the protector… my protector."

Emily shook her head, "Hang on, hang on…did you say I'm your protector...for what? What is the meaning of all this?"

Hotch stood up, "Okay, we need to stop for a moment," He glanced from Emily to Amun. "Is this some kind of game, Amun? Because, if it is, we're not amused because well…"He looked at Emily for answers.

Emily frowned, "Amun, I don't know how to put it but your parents' plane didn't make it to Egypt, it's reported missing."

Amun smiled which astonished Emily and Hotch, "Hassan and Noor are safe. Be assured."

"Amun, they are your parents. I think you should address them appropriately." Emily said.

"My father and mother are fine, no harm has come to them." He said simply.

Hotch leaned forward in his chair, "Amun, do you know something we don't?"

"At the moment, their purpose is not revealed but they are fine."

"You are only 12, Amun." Emily said. "Yet you talk like …like you're old! No more games, kid."

Amun shook his head, "I am serious. This body I am in is young but I am more than 4000 years old." Hotch and Emily exchanged skeptical looks. "I see you are doubtful but believe me, I tell the truth as I have nothing to gain or lose. My people have called for me and I must answer."

"Amun," Hotch started. "This is very hard to believe and you have to understand our position. Especially in this day and modern era, ancient Egyptian mythology is…a myth to us Westerners. We do not believe in the supernatural events unless we see it right before our eyes and so far we have not seen anything that convinces us to believe all you've just said." Amun removed the amulet from around his neck and showed it to Emily and Hotch, it was the symbolic feature of the eye of Ra.

After that he stepped out of Hotch's office. A moment later, Jamilla came up and joined her brother.

They stepped into his office.

"My sister has chosen Jack's father as her protector."

"Me, why?" Hotch asked him.

"You have courage and heart, just like Emily." Jamilla smiled at him. "And Jack has the other half of the Book."

Hotch glared at her, than at Amun, "I will not have Jack placed in danger, Amun!"

Jamilla shook her head, "Don't worry, Mr. Hotchner. The Book of the Dead is not just for deaths. It is a book of spells and right now, these two halves are protecting Declan and Jack, no harm will come to them as long as the Book is in their possessions."

Emily shook her head, "This is way too much to take in, Hotch."

"I know. I'm still not…I can't have Jack involved."

"Mr. Hotchner, hold out your hand, palm down." Jamilla asked him.

Amun stood before Emily, "And you Emily, hold out your hand, palm down, please."

Hotch and Emily held their hands out and turned it palm down as Amun and Jamilla placed their hands on top of their hands for a few seconds. When they removed their hands, Emily and Hotch saw with stunned surprise a mark of appeared on their hands, like a tattoo. The mark on their hands was the Egyptian symbol Ra, just like the one on Amun's amulet.

"How…?" Emily stared at the mark as she tried to rub it off but it didn't. "What…?"

"If someone tries to harm you, the sign of Ra will protect you." Amun said simply.

Emily and Hotch exchanged another incredulous look, "Now what?" Emily asked.

"We wait for the full moon to crest which will be in two days."

"And then what?"

"I will become Amun Ra, the King of Gods." Amun said.

Emily stared at him in shock, "What about Jamilla? What is her role in all of this?"

"Jamilla is Goddess Isis." At this point, she removed the amulet with the symbol of Isis, a long U shape with a sun disk on the bottom of the U, from within her shirt that was around her neck and showed it to Hotch and Emily, and it was glowing slightly. "The Goddess Isis is also sent back here to help her people. She has heard the cries of the poor and the need for peace. Ra wants an end to the unrest in Egypt."

"But Jamilla is only 9!" Emily exclaimed. "She cannot lead…yet."

"Remember Emily, she is not 9 but Isis and she is over 3000 years old."

"Amun, all I'm seeing now is a 9 year old child and you're 12." Emily said. "I don't know what to believe but as long as you're under my care and I gave my promise to your mother, I will protect you not matter what."

"That is all I ask. My people will be grateful to what you have done once we have succeeded."

Emily sighed, "I'm not getting through to you, aren't I?"

"Emily, I'm beginning to understand them."Hotch said. "We will help them as long as they won't hurt our children."

"I understand and as I said, as long as they have the Book, they are protected, no evil will touch them."

Emily shook her head, "This is a nightmare, right? I mean I'm going to wake up and find myself back in my room and my bed and all this never happened."

Hotch still holding her hand, gave her a comforting squeeze, "Em, I'm here with you. We'll get through this, two more days. I just hope their parents will be fine."

"Me too because I would like to give them a piece of my mind when I hand the kids back to them."

"Amun," Hotch looked at the youngster. "What would happen if you and Jamilla go back to Egypt now before the full moon?"

Amun paused for a moment before he answered, "Jamilla and I will die and there will be more unrest in Egypt until Egypt will be no more." He said sadly.

"Well," Emily nodded. "I guess we'll have to keep you two safe for now."

Just then, JJ knocked on the door, "Hey Hotch, sorry to interrupt but the Sec of Foreign Affairs is on the line." She saw Hotch quickly removed his hand from Emily and left his office.

Emily bit her inner lip and frowned as Hotch went around his desk to answer the phone call.

Emily saw JJ's expression; what must she think of her and Hotch? Especially when he and Beth were still engaged?

….

End of Chapter 7


	8. Chapter 8

BAU: The Book of the Dead – Chapter 8

.

Emily watched Amun and Jamilla interacted with the BAU team and Declan. At the moment, they looked like any 12 and 9 year children.

Gone were the serious intonations they displayed when they were in Hotch's office; they were presently laughing and giggling as Garcia were telling them stories of Emily and her early days at the BAU. Derek would occasionally chime in and added his anecdotes of Emily incidents. The whole bull pen was flooded with childish laughter.

In the meantime, in Hotch's office, he was still on the phone with the Foreign Affairs Secretary. He was mostly silent as he seemed to be listening more than talking; was that a good sign?

Emily was about to walk back into the office when she caught sight of JJ who was coming out of her office and was looking up at her with a knowing look; JJ was no long a media liaison agent, she was now a profiler and she was using her talent and applying on her friends. Emily knew she was being unfair to her; they had known each other for eight years. In fact she was the one that pushed the blonde agent to become a profiler because of her natural talent in spotting and figuring out how to talk to people and calming them down.

Hotch came to stand besides her a minute later, "Your mother just bought us two days. After that, they have to head home to Egypt."

Emily turned to him, "That's great Hotch, it's all we need."

He nodded, "Let's hope their parents are still alive. There's still no word, it's like they just disappeared completely from the face of this world." He looked down at his strange new marking on the back of his hand. "And I hope this comes out."

Emily looked at hers as she held it next to Hotch, "Me too."

"Hey," JJ was standing outside the office, she was looking down at their hands, "When did you two get the same ….oh kay…" JJ paused as she stepped into the office. "What is going with you two? And don't give me the usual crap that you are just friends because," she pointed at the matching tattoos. "I'm not buying it."

Hotch and Emily looked at each other and he nodded at her before he stepped out of his office.

Emily pointed at his chair, "Have a sit, JJ."

JJ did and glanced back at Emily, "You better not hold anything back." And grinned at her brunette friend.

"Remember the story the other night we told you guys about Hotch and I having the worst time, well, that was not all of it and the ending was not all bad and…"

Down at the bullpen, Garcia was telling the kids about a particular funny story when suddenly there was a loud whoop coming from Hotch's office!

Garcia stopped in mid-sentence as they all looked up towards his office.

"It's okay Garcia," Hotch assured her. "What about Emily knocking at that man's door?" he tried to draw Garcia back as she nodded and looked at the kids who looked back expectantly.

"Wha…oh! Yeah, the woman came out and threw a bucket of rotten tomatoes at her and shut the door, there were worms and really nasty icky things all over her hair and shirt. There went that silk shirt she always wore. She never stood in front of doors from then onwards." The kids started to laugh.

Hotch grinned, "Okay, who wants some cold drinks and snack at the FBI cafeteria?" The kids eagerly raised their hands as they followed him out of the bullpen and towards the elevators. Derek decided to follow them as he laughingly said it was on the way to the White-collar crime department and a very pretty looking agent. Hotch shook his head as they stepped into the elevator.

Garcia hurriedly rushed to Hotch's office just in time to hear Emily telling JJ something about ending it.

"Ending what?" She demanded as she walked in and sat down on the couch. "Okay, obviously I missed the whole thing and you know it's not fair at all to keep anything from me, your Goddess of Know-All and Be-All. As one of the three Musketeers, you're obligated to divulge all and everything you have told each other so spill." She then took a deep breath and letting it out in a puff.

JJ and Emily began to laugh at Garcia who did not share that sentiment but continued to glare at them. Finally, Emily admitted to her what she told JJ a moment ago. A very happy Garcia laughed and shook her head, "Em, you really pulled a good one over our heads, you and Hotch. I didn't see it, I mean I did suspect something at first but then you left and Hotch went out with Beth."

Emily grinned.

"Speaking of Beth, does she know?" Garcia asked.

"What happened between Hotch and I happened before Beth. And we'd never done anything after, you guys should know. And then I left the Bureau."

"What about just now?" JJ asked. "Hotch was holding your hand…?"

"Hotch was holding your hand?" Garcia demanded. "Why?"

"He is helping me out on some personal matter and let's leave it at that, guys."

"Not from what I'm seeing, he was very, very concern about you as if…the way he looked at you, Em, it's as if you two are still…"

"Jayje, we are now friends...okay good friends but friends nonetheless. Trust me, he'd never dishonor Beth."

JJ was not convinced, "That's not what I'm seeing."

"I thought there's an agreement that we don't profile each other?" Emily pointed.

"You, my friend, are no longer in the BAU, therefore you're not a profiler so the agreement does not apply to you."

Emily shook her head, "I'll always be a profiler, Jayje. But keep it in mind, guys. Hotch and I are history so let's leave it at that."

Garcia and JJ nodded reluctantly. Just then Emily's phone buzzed; it was Sean Hotchner.

Emily smiled and looked at them, "Speaking of Hotch…the other one, the blonde Hotchner." She grinned as she answered her phone, "Prentiss."

_You know you're not on duty?_ He said.

Emily frowned, "What do you mean?"

_The way you answered your phone and you sounded just like my brother when he answers his and I know you guys have Caller ID._

"It's a habit, Sean. Hi, how are you doing?" She was looking back at JJ and Garcia who were watching her.

_I'm great, in fact better now that I just received this phone call from my business partner._

"Your business partner? I didn't know you have a business, Sean."

_Well, no one knows about it, not even Aaron. I wasn't sure if it's a go until I heard back from her just now._

Emily frowned, "Her?"

Sean laughed, _Yeah, Katie Black, we've known each other since culinary school. We decided to get into the restaurant business together but she had to fly home because of some personal issues. But she's back in New York City and is eager to start._

"So, she wants to see you soon?

_As soon as possible,_ he laughed_. I just bought a ticket to fly out in a few hours. I'm calling to tell you that I had a great time yesterday, Emily._

Emily smiled, "I did too Sean. I just wish…"

_Emily, you know we were not gonna get on together. I think you and my brother should get back together._

Stunned,"Sean…what are you talking about?"

Sean laughed, _I may not be a profile like Aaron and I'm not blind to not see the way he looks at you._

"I…Sean…" Emily was still in shock.

_It's okay, you didn't break my heart, just my ego but I'll recover. Aaron should watch out. He's giving out a lot of vibes when he's around you…hell you two were giving a bunch of vibes last night and it was all I can do not to laugh at the two of you._

"Were we that obvious?"

_Only a brother, and hopefully your future brother-in-law. _He began to laugh._ I gotta go, Emily. I have to call my brother and break the news to him. Good luck and take care, Emily. And take care of my brother, he needs someone who loves him and I'm not talking about Beth. Bye my future sis-in-law!_ He laughed again as he ended the call.

"Em, are you okay?" JJ frowned.

Emily nodded her head slowly as she pocketed her phone, "Sean knew."

"Knew what?" Garcia leaned forward.

Emily told them about the dinner last evening with Sean cooking and later Hotch coming over.

"Smart and good-looking," JJ uttered. "Pity I'm happily married." She grinned.

At that moment, they looked out and saw Hotch coming back with the children. The three ladies walked out of his office and down to the bullpen to greet them.

"How's the cafeteria?" Garcia asked them

The kids happily told her their mini-adventure and then Garcia offered to show them her den. They followed her and JJ as Declan waved happily at Emily.

Emily returned his wave as she turned to look at Hotch. "Sean knew."

Hotch nodded as he stood beside her, "Yes, he did. He laughed at me and told me I was a damn fool."

She nodded.

"I need to talk to Beth." He said simply.

"About what? Oh, I'm sorry, Hotch. It's not my business." Emily shook her head.

"It is, Emily. I think it's best if I told her about us." He looked at her.

"Hotch, there's no us."

"Em, I…"

Emily shook her head and moved away from him, "We made an agreement, Hotch." She walked away from him and went to Garcia's office.

Hotch watched after her; when Sean had called him and told him what he knew, it was as if someone had threw the proverbial bucket of iced water on him.

Sean was right; he was making a big mistake with Beth.

Shaking his head, he straightened from where he was leaning and made his way back to his office.

Half an hour later, he saw Emily leaving with the children without saying goodbye to him, she didn't even look at him as the elevator doors closed.

…

There was still no news about the whereabouts of the missing jet.

Anwar was frustrated as the calls he had placed went unheeded; they would not let him leave Cairo, it was too dangerous for him to travel.

He tried to explain the situation about who was in the missing plane and the children in America by themselves.

The Foreign Minister contradicted him, telling him former US Ambassador to Egypt Elizabeth Prentiss' daughter was a trusted friend of the Prince and Princess. They had appointed her as the children's guardian by verbal agreement and witnessed by the former Ambassador. The Foreign Minister did not wish to argue further and ended the call before Anwar had more to argue.

He had one more day!

….

That evening, Hotch brought four boxes of pizza and Jack and appeared at Emily's house.

Emily grinned, "Ah the pizza delivery…guy! And kid!" She waved at Jack as she let them in.

Hotch smiled as they walked into the kitchen as Jack disappeared into the den to greet his friends. "We talked about it today at the cafeteria when they smelled it. Although Jamilla is slightly confused about the novelty."

"Oh yeah? What part?"

"She wants to know why it's round and why there are all types of toppings."

Suddenly Emily looked at him, "I hope you didn't have sausages in them," she began to open the boxes. "Or pepperoni."

Hotch shook his head, "Em, relax. I know about their religion and restrictions. No pepperonis or sausages. All cheese on one, veggies on the other, and the other two have everything in it but no pork product."

Emily grinned at him, "Thanks Hotch."

He nodded, "Let's get the kids."

She nodded as they walked into the den and announced dinner as they all piled into the kitchen excitedly.

Jamilla was about to eat hers with a knife and a fork when Jack shook his head and showed her how.

"I do not understand why you do not use any utensils, it is not hygienic."

"But that's part of the fun, Jamilla." Jack grinned with a mouth full.

Jamilla frowned at her slice of pizza before she gingerly picked it up and took a bite but after a couple of seconds she nodded, "I like it, it's satisfactory. The bread is delicious." And took another bite.

Emily chuckled, "She needs to get out more often."

Three empty boxes later, the kids were stuffed but happy as they moved to the den and continued with their game.

"Did you bring the sleeping bags and Jack's sleepover things?"

Hotch nodded, "I did, he's pretty stoked about the sleepover."

Emily nodded, "Our little friend is confused about sleeping bags when I told her about Jack coming over."

"Oh?"

"She asked about the concept of sleeping in a bag. I think she was expecting a bag as in a carrying bag with straps and all." She grinned at Hotch.

"Like you'd said, she needs to get around. Are you sure you can handle four kids on your own?"

Emily nodded as she looked into the den, they were laughing happily in there.

When Emily had left the BAU early that afternoon, she had called Hotch and invited Jack for a sleepover because Declan was talking about camping he had went with Mitch, a friend of Emily's when he took care of Declan when Emily had 'died'.

Of course, Jamilla was intrigued by the whole concept of camping and the reason for it. Declan was patient as he explained to her how exciting it was to sleep in the woods.

Jamilla wrinkled her nose and asked about bugs and crawly things that might crept into the tent.

Declan laughed and told her he didn't see any of it and he was not afraid of small bugs. Jamilla shook her head and found it disgusting that he had to cook in an open fire pit.

"It does not sound sanitary at all."

Declan nodded, "The heat kills all the germs, so it's safe to eat once it's done." He shrugged his shoulders.

"Did it taste good?"Amun asked him.

Declan nodded, "Oh yeah, after you scrap off the burnt part." He grinned.

"Burnt?" Jamilla turned to look at him. "Why do you want to burn your food?"

Declan rolled his eyes, "Jamilla, it's all part of camping out and the fun of it. You have to do it to know how it's done. We should go on a camping trip when your parents come back."

"I don't think I'd like this camping thing. It's just not sanitary. Where do you use the bathroom? And take a shower or bath?"

"Well, Mitch and I were guys, so we went behind a tree and relieve ourselves there and we didn't bath but we have cleaning wipes we used since there were no shower stalls."

Jamilla shook her head, "I don't think I want to go to this camping. It is very unhygienic."

Emily laughed as she told them most modern family have RVs or recreational vehicles with all the amenities but still able to camp outdoors.

"What about laptops? Can we use our laptops in this woods you went to?" Jamilla was quizzing Declan.

He shook his head, "No electricity, Jamilla. Just like the stone age, no electricity, no running water…"

"Wait!" Jamilla's eyes were wide with shock. "No water? What about drinking?"

"We have bottled water."

Emily was laughing as she drove them home when she thought of an idea.

"Hey guys, how about we have a mini-camp?"

Excited and perked, Declan leaned forward, "Sure!"

Jamilla shook her head, "No, I don't think so."

"Okay, how about we pretend the den is the woods? And you guys can sort of camp and sleep in there?"

Amun and Declan nodded but Jamilla was doubtful, "Do we have to sleep in a baggage?"

Emily laughed and shook her head, "No sweetie, a sleeping bag is a convenient carry on sleep roll. Just think of in the old western days, the cowboys ride their horses all day and when they bed down for the night, they rolled out their bedrolls and sleep under the stars."

"What happens if it rains?"

"That's when they make a tent. Look, we're just camping out in the den, you guys can stay up as long as you want to…and hey how about pizza for dinner?"

They all nodded, "Yes, Mr. Hotchner was showing us this pizza at the cafeteria." Jamilla pointed out. "Do you cook this pizza, Emily?"

"Oh honey, I don't cook. We call the pizza place and order for a delivery."

Jamilla frowned, "Delivery? They deliver food to your house?"

Emily and Declan nodded, "Yeah, we do it all the time. Friday night is pizza night!" He grinned as he wriggled in his seat excitedly.

"How many can you eat, Dec?" Amun asked him.

"Two, maybe three. You?"

"I think I can eat three slices, too."

"So Amun, let me ask you, how come you know about pizza and your sister doesn't?"

"Mother does not permit Jamilla to see her classmates." Amun explained. "But as oldest son and I'm a boy, I was permitted to visit my friends' house. They had pizza, too."

"Yes, it was not fair." Jamilla said sadly.

"Well, kid. We're gonna have a pizza party ourselves and than a camp-out sort-of sleepover in the den." Emily declared.

"Emily, can you invite Jack? He does not have many friends and I like him." Jamilla said shyly.

Emily glanced over in the rearview mirror and saw her shy smile, "Let me ask Jack' father." She felt a little nervous having to call Hotch after the way she had left him abruptly at the BAU.

"Let's hope he's in the forgiving mood." Emily uttered under her breath as she pulled out her cell phone.

And a few hours later, a very forgiving Hotch was now sitting beside Emily in the kitchen counter, sharing pizza and iced water.

"So," Emily watched him. "Any plans? I mean, no kids…what about Beth?"

Hotch arched his brow, "I met Beth for lunch today."

"Hotch, I…this is between you and Beth. You shouldn't be telling me anything."

Hotch dug into his pocket and pulled out something and showed it to Emily; it was an engagement ring.

"Beth gave it back this afternoon."

Emily frowned, "You broke off with her?"

He shook his head, "She initiated it. Beth was having second thoughts."

"Oh Hotch, I'm so sorry…I mean you and Beth were hitting off so well."

"Her second thoughts was a guy named Brandon." He told her simply. "He was her ex- boyfriend and had asked her back. She didn't hesitate and was eager to return my ring." He breathed deeply.

Emily reached out and touched his arm, "Hotch, I'm so sorry. I know you really love her."

"No Em, I realized when that when she returned the ring and explained to me about Brandon. I was not angry, hurt or rejected. I felt relieved."

"Relieved?"

He looked at her directly, "Don't you understand, Emily?" he turned her hand over and held it. "I was relieved she ended it because I was going to do it and I had felt bad because I was going to hurt her. As it turned out, she did me a favor." He pocketed the ring. "I think the jeweler has an exchange policy."

Confused, Emily shook her head, "You mean return policy, Hotch."

"No, an exchange policy." He stared at her intently. "Emily, you know what is going on between us…"

She shook her head but he held her face. "We never ended what we have, Em. I thought we did too but when you came back…when I saw you again at the airport, I really thought you came back to me."

Emily's eyes teared as she swallowed hard, "When I saw you at the airport, I thought you had came to me too."

He reached up and wiped her tears, "I couldn't get you out of my mind since and when you and Sean…" he shook his head. "I thought I was going to punch him and that thought occured several times when we were at Dave's."

Emily laughed, "I was attracted to him but I couldn't get you out of my mind. And when they talked about our crazy horrible trip, I mean of all stories to tell!" She laughed.

Hotch grinned, his dimples deepening. "It was all I could do to keep a straight face that whole night….nothing happened, yeah right. What bunch of hogwash we told them." He shook his head as his dimples were still visible.

Emily nodded.

Hotch stroked her face gently as he leaned close to her, "So how about it?"

Emily looked at him shyly, "How about what?"

"Emily! Don't play hard to get with me…let's get married, you and me."

"I…" Emily was about to answer him when her burglar alarm began to beep loudly in the kitchen monitor.

Hotch released her and stood up, his hand in his holster as he pulled his gun out.

Emily moved to the box and deactivated it, she had her gun out as well.

"I'll check upstairs." Hotch said as he disappeared up the stairs.

Emily moved up the den where the kids were. "Okay guys, come with me. We have a problem. Dec, you know where to go."

He nodded as he grabbed Amun and Jamilla and nodded to Jack, "Come with me everyone." He led them to the kitchen and into another room.

"What's going on?" Jack asked. "Where are we going?"

"There are bad people here and Emily has a secret room we can hide in but you have to be quiet." Declan explained.

"Bad people?" Jamilla asked, her eyes wide with fear. "Why is there bad people?"

"Jamilla, just do it." Amun looked at her sternly.

Jamilla then nodded. "Yes, you're right, Amun. Let us go."

They followed Declan to the room as Emily made sure there were four of them as she was closing the door, "Dec, you're in charge in here. Remember, do not come out until you hear four knocks on the door…you have the key?" He showed it to her.

"Okay, lock it after I close the door, I love you son."

Declan called out, "Be careful, Mommy! I love you too."

Emily heard the key turned and swallowed hard, to hear her son called her 'Mommy', it cut really deep into her heart. Taking a deep breath she moved away from the door with a resolve, "You are not taking any of my kids!" Holding the gun in front of her, she moved to the back door.

…

End of Chapter 8


	9. Chapter 9

This chapter is dedicated to my British pal, The LovelyJA! A kind of special Hotch/Em moment!

.

BAU: The Book of the Dead – Chapter 9

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Emily saw four of them; they were wearing dark clothing and were masked.

Coming down, she saw Hotch signaling to her that all was clear upstairs.

Emily nodded and signaled back that there were four, he nodded in acknowledgement as he came quietly next to her.

"Where are the kids?"

"In a safe room, Declan and I had a prearranged plan in case something happens. He knows what to do and Jack's safe with him and the others."

Hotch looked at her, "You have a panic room?"

She nodded, "I like to be prepared for everything."

"Emily, I'm so damn impressed with you." He quickly reached over and kissed her

She grinned.

Hotch nodded. "Have you called the police?"

"They have activated an electronic jammer, my cell phone is out." Emily explained. "These guys are no simple burglars."

"You think they're here for Amun and Jamilla?"

"This is a safe neighbourhood, Hotch, we hardly have any burglaries."

He turned to her, "When are you going to call me Aaron?"

Emily frowned at him, "Wha…?now is not the time to have this discussion!"

He grinned, "And you've not given a reply."

"Hotch!" She exclaimed.

"Aaron, just say my name, Emily."He urged her.

She frowned at him, "Damn it Hotch! This is really not the time to argue about your name at the moment! Be serious!"

"Okay, I'll be serious. Do you have anything to tie them up?"

She nodded and reached up a shelf in the pantry next to them and showed him, "Plastic ties."

He nodded as he took a few from her, "Good enough." They heard some noises coming from their right, near the den.

Emily listened in and whispered back to Hotch, "They're Egyptians, speaking Arabic….they are going up the stairs."

"Let's go after them and take them from behind." Hotch began to move silently as Emily followed behind.

When they reached the landing of the second level, Hotch and Emily looked around and heard them in Declan's and Jamilla's rooms.

One of them was inside Emily's bedroom when Hotch drew the barrel of his gun on his neck, "Don't move or make a sound." He said quietly.

The man froze when he felt the cold metal on his neck and nodded.

"Hands behind your back, one at a time...easy does it." The man put his hand behind as Hotch slipped the tie on his wrist and then the other hand as he tied his wrist.

Emily came from behind them as she began to search his pants and came up empty handed. "No jammer box. I'll take him and put him in the shed in the backyard."

Hotch nodded, "Tie his legs up too and gag him as well."

She nodded as she pushed the man forward after making sure they were cleared to move.

Hotch came out of her room and went into Declan's room where he spotted two of them in there.

One of the men saw Hotch and fired at him!

But luckily Hotch ducked in time as the bullet wheeze passed him as he quickly took cover back into the hallway.

The fourth man who was in Jamilla's room came out when he heard the gunfire and raising his gun, he was about to fire a shot at Hotch but Hotch was faster as he fired first and less than a second, the man was down.

Hotch heard the two men inside Declan's room and soon Emily came up, her gun at eye level as she spotted the dead man.

Hotch signaled to her that two were in Declan's room. Emily nodded as she came to stand on the other side of the door, across from Hotch when they saw the barrel of a gun coming out of Declan's room and then an arm continuing to move outwards of the room holding the gun.

Hotch nodded to Emily as he grabbed the arm and pulled him out completely. Taken by surprise, the man fire a shot and the bullet went into the wall of across from them.

Emily put her knee down quickly on the man's back and pressed hard as she pointed her gun at the back of his head, "Move and I'll shoot," said in Arabic to him.

But the last and fourth man came out and pointed the gun at Emily, "No, you move and I'll shoot. Put your gun down." He grinned at Emily who had not dropped her gun.

"Come on, put your gun down, lady." He said again.

"No, she will not be doing that." Hotch moved forward and was pointing his gun at the temple of the fourth man. "I think you should do it or I'll shoot and send you to the same place your friend over there had gone."

Defeated the man nodded and tossed the gun away as he raised his hands up.

Keeping his gun pointed, Hotch tied him up and then he helped Emily tied the other one and found the jammer box in his pocket and turned it off.

"This turned out pretty easy."Hotch said.

"Yeah Hotch, they're more like a bunch of goons than kidnappers, who hired them?" Emily looked at Hotch.

He smiled at her, "I think we make a pretty damn good team, just like the old days." He kissed her. "And you still haven't called me by my name."

She arched her brow, "Seriously Hotch? We just took down four kidnappers and you want to have a discussion on how I should address you?"

He nodded, "Yes, I do, Emily. I mean, I used to call you Prentiss but as you can see I don't anymore. So I think you should just drop Hotch and call me Aaron."

"I don' believe this! We in the middle of a crime scene and you want me to call you Aaron."

He smiled, "See, how hard is that? And coming from your beautiful lips and voice, it makes my name sound…sexy. Say it again, Emily." He teased her.

She laughed, "No I will not do it here and now." She indicated the men. "I think we should prioritized and get them downstairs and one of us call the cops?"

He nodded as he chuckled, "I'll get them downstairs. But we're still not done with this conversation."

"Hotch!"

"Okay…okay…I'm moving." He nudged the two men forward.

Emily watch him as she smiled, shaking her head and pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed for the police station..

Ten minutes later, three police units and a crime scene van pulled up in front of Emily's house.

Hotch led the detectives into the kitchen and told them all that had happened while Emily went to the special room and knocking four times, Declan opened the door from the inside.

"Are the bad people gone?" he asked as he quickly walked into Emily and hugged her.

Emily held her arms out as Jamilla and even Jack rushed in and crowded Emily and Declan.

"We got them and the police are here to take them to jail."

Amun nodded as he sighed, and unashamedly moved towards Emily as she held her hand out to him and gathered him too.

"I told you my Mommy will get the bad guys!"Declan said as soon as he'd recovered and stepped back from Emily as well as Jack but Jamilla was still shaken up by the whole ordeal as Emily continued to hold her, Amun stayed besides his little sister.

"And my Daddy, didn't he, Emily?" Jack looked at her.

"Yes, your Dad helped a lot." Emily nodded.

"I do not like bad people." Jamilla said as she leaned against Emily.

"Hey, we got them, so you guys can go back to the den. I'll get the sleeping bags and you can lie down." Emily said.

"Can I come with you?" Jamilla looked up at her worriedly.

Emily nodded, "Of course, you can help me with the bags, as a matter of fact why don't you guys come with me and give me a hand with the sleeping bags?"

They all nodded, glad to be able to help.

Emily went into the kitchen where Hotch was and asked for his keys, explaining that she wanted to get the sleeping bags out for the kids. He nodded and tossed her his keys.

Catching it expertly, the kids and Emily were soon in the back of Hotch's SUV, getting the sleeping bags out as they carried them into the house.

The kids were in awed to see all the police cars but Emily tried not to make a big deal as she ushered them back into the house.

As Emily helped them settled down letting them watch a Disney animated show to calm them, she then walked into the kitchen and talked to the detectives and gave her statement.

When the detectives were gone, Emily went upstairs, intending to clean the mess the dead man had left but she found Hotch had already cleaned it while she was giving her statements!

Smiling, she thanked him as she helped him put everything back in order.

When they went downstairs to check on the kids, they saw that all of them had fallen asleep.

"Well, I should go and leave you to the rest of the sleep over." Hotch said.

Emily shook her head, "After all that you've done? Why don't you stay the night? It's too late for you to head home."

Smiling, "I didn't bring an extra sleeping bag and if I'm not wrong, you don't have any more spare bedrooms."

Emily walked up to him as she slid her hand around his waist, "Who says you're spending the night as a guest?"

Arching his brow, "Are you sure?"

She nodded, "You have your go bag, don't you?"

"You know I always have it." He pulled her tightly to him.

She looked up at him, "Then again, maybe you don't need your go-bag at all." She pulled away from him and led him upstairs.

"Where are we going, Emily?" Hotch dimpled deeply as she held his hand leading him upstairs to her room.

"We need a hot shower." She grinned as she shut the door.

…

Breakfast the next morning was made by Hotch; pancakes!

"More cakes? For breakfast?" Jamilla asked as she sat by the kitchen counter.

"It's not a cake, like the cake we had the other evening, pancakes are more flat and it's cooked on a griddle like we have here," Hotch indicated near the stove. "Unlike regular cakes which are usually baked."

Jamilla frowned, "I don't understand why don't they call it flat something instead of cake. It is confusing."

Hotch grinned at her as he flipped the pancake over.

"Where is Emily?" Amun asked as he walked into the kitchen.

"Emily is still asleep in bed," Hotch said as he transferred the flapjack onto a platter.

"You can cook?" Amun watched him expertly poured some batter onto the griddle.

Hotch glanced at him and nodded, "I am a single dad to Jack so I have to take care of him including cooking, cleaning and washing."

"You wash Jack?" Jamilla stared at him. "Isn't he too old to have you to wash his body for him?"

Hotch chuckled, "No, not that washing, Jamilla. Washing clothes. I do wash clothes for the two of us or we'd be running around butt... I mean bare bodies! You wouldn't want to see Jack without his clothes?" He teased her.

Jamilla wrinkled her nose as she laughed, "No! I don't think so, boys are so yucky!"

"Well, then I have to do those things his mother would usually help with."

"Where is Jack's mother?" Jamilla asked.

Hotch paused for a moment as he flipped another pancake over before answering her.

"Jack's mother died when he was four years old, Jamilla."

"Oh, I am sorry Mr. Hotchner. I did not mean to be rude." Jamilla said sadly.

He turned to look at her and flicked her nose, "It's okay, Jamilla. It happened a long time ago."

She giggled.

"Are you and Emily going to marry, Mr. Hotchner?"

Hotch shrugged, "You are full of questions, is she normally so curious, Amun?" he looked over to her brother.

Amun shook his head, "Not at all. She is usually very quiet. She is now driving me crazy with all these questions."

Hotch laughed and looked up when he saw Declan and Jack walking into the kitchen together.

"Good morning you two." He greeted them.

Jack's eyes widened when he saw his father, "Dad! What are you doing here? I thought you went home last night?"

Hotch grinned at his son, "Well, it was too late to go home so Emily invited me to stay."

Jack grinned and nodded, "Cool, you had a sleepover too! And now we're having pancakes!" he looked at Jamilla and Amun as well as Declan, "My Daddy makes the best pancakes ever in the whole world!"

Hotch chuckled, "Let's hope they're good to eat."

As he transferred the last one, Declan helped Hotch distributed the pancakes to everyone as they began to eat.

"Here, you need to pour the syrup." Jack passed it to Jamilla.

"Syrup? Why?"

"It makes it taste better and gooey! Just eat Jamilla." Jack shook his in exasperation. "Girls." He mumbled.

Hotch arched his brow at his son, "Be nice Jack. I'm going to take these to Emily. You guys help yourself to more."

Carrying a tray with two cups of freshly poured coffee, a plateful of pancakes and a cup of syrup, Hotch made his way up the stairs.

Nudging the door opened to her room, Hotch peeked in and saw Emily was still asleep.

He placed the tray on the night stand and slid into her bed and snuggled with her.

Emily smiled as she cracked her eyes opened, "I thought I was dreaming about last night…" she snuggled into his neck as he reached down and kissed the top of her head.

"No, last night was real. Want some coffee?"

She nodded as she moved and scooted up to sit as he reached over and handed her a cup.

"Hmmm, you're up early." She smiled at him.

"It's after 9am, Em." He reached up and stroked her face.

Emily wrinkled her nose, "What's this smell? Have you been cooking?"

He pointed at the tray and nodded, "Breakfast in bed, hon?"

She laughed and nodded, "Remember that last time…?"She smiled as she slid her hand on his inner thigh.

Hotch almost choked on his coffee, "Em, the last time we had breakfast in bed…you were breakfast."

Emily laughed, "I remember that." She leaned in and kissed him deeply.

But there was a knock on the door, interrupting them as they separated, "Come in."

Declan peeked in, "Mom, is it okay for us to go in our room? We want to play some games in there."

"Yes, as long as you guys brushed your teeth first." She nodded.

Declan frowned as he moved into the bedroom, "Mom? Why are you wearing Mr. Hotchner's jacket?"

Face reddened instantly, Emily stared at Declan, speechless.

Hotch laughed at her, "Your mom is feeling a little cold and er…she can't find her sweater."

Declan frowned at her and nodded as he left her room, muttering; never understood adults, they're so crazy….

Hotch and Emily exchange looks before they laughed as Hotch sat the tray on her lap. As she bent over to eat, "Oh, Hotch…this is good …it's really delicious."

Hotch was watching her body and grinned, "You're delicious, too. Last night, you were tasty." He gave her a telling look.

Emily blushed deeply, "Last night was unforgettable."

Hotch leaned over and stole a kiss from her as well as a bite of pancake from her fork.

"Hey, quit filching!"

Another knock on the door as Jack poked his head in, "Dad, what are you doing in Emily's room?"

Hotch gave her a glance before he turned to his son, "Because Emily invited me in here."

Then Jamilla's head peeked in besides Jack's, "Emily, why are you wearing Mr. Hotchner's jacket? Don't you have your own clothes?"

Emily and Hotch laughed as he stood up and gently pushed the kids out, "Go play, Jamilla, you too Jack." He closed the door on them.

Emily was laughing, "I guess I should get out of bed!"

Hotch nodded, "We have an important errand to get to today."

Emily grinned, "Yes. Are you sure you want the kids to go with us? I mean, you could go and I'll stay with them." She slid out of bed as she was unbuttoning the jacket when Hotch came behind her and nuzzled into her heck.

"Mmmm…The kids come with us, we'll do it together and we'll go to lunch."

Emily nodded, "I liked that. But I need to take a shower."

He began to unbutton the jacket as he reached in, "I need one too."

She moved away from him as she walked into the bathroom and tossed the jacket to him, "What are you waiting for, Hotch?"

Catching it, he placed it on the bed and followed her, "It's Aaron!"

…..

Cairo, Egypt –

The Director was taken into police custody when the four men confessed that it was he who had hired them to kidnap the Amun and Jamilla.

The Director in turn tried to implicate the Minister of Antiquities, Anwar Fayad they didn't believed him as Anwar was an important figure in the Egyptian government. And besides, when they tried to find Anwar, the Minister had disappeared. No one knew where he had gone.

There was only 12 hours when the moon crested in Cairo, Egypt.

….

End of Chapter 9


	10. Chapter 10

BAU: The Book of the Dead – Chapter 10

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Too many times, things did never go as planned;

That morning when they had pancakes was a Saturday so Hotch was off as he an d Emily finally gathered every one and were about to leave for a special trip when the doorbell rang.

Intrigued, Emily answered the door and saw standing before her on the other side was an elderly gentleman in a traditional Egyptian long shirt called the _gallibaya._ It was loose fitting with long strips and made of linen. He was also wearing a traditional headgear called the shaal or a turban that was wrapped around his head leaving the tail end of the material hanging as a scarf. He was estimated to be in his 70s with a white long beard.

"May I help you?" Emily asked him.

"Are you Emily Prentiss?" He inquired.

"Yes, and you are?"

"I am Sheteptawy. I was sent to help you." He announced.

Emily frowned, "I'm sorry, am I supposed to know how you are? And who sent you?"

He nodded and smiled, "The Princess Noor, mother of Amun and Jamilla. You have the children, do you not?"

"Noor? Is she found? Where is she?" Emily was becoming nervous and excited at the same time.

"Em?" Hotch came to the door and looked over the strange elder man. "Who is this?"

"He said that Amun and Jamilla's mother had sent for him to help us. His name is Shete…?"She looked back to him for help.

"Sheteptawy, you two are the protectors of the children and Amun and Isis."

Growing even more confused, Emily shook her head, "Look, I don't know if I should allow you to come in. I mean, Noor did not mention who you are to me and…."

Suddenly Amun came to the door, "Sheteptawy, you have come in time. We have only less than one hour until the crest of the moon."

"Crest of the moon? Amun, it's only late morning. And who is this?" Emily looked at him.

The elder man lifted his hand and showed Emily and Hotch the sign of Ra on his hand, "I have been sent."

"Emily, it's okay. He will help us."Amun nodded.

"Help us what?"

"Answer Egypt's pleas."

"Okay, kid, you're freaking me again."Emily shook her head.

"Emily," Hotch said. "Just let him in."

She looked at Hotch and nodded as she stepped aside. The elder man entered the house.

As he did, Emily suddenly felt a peaceful feeling washed over her.

"Where is Isis?" Sheteptawy asked Amun.

"In her room, come I'll show you." Amun led him up the stairs, Emily and Hotch followed behind.

"I feel as if I'm somewhere else." Emil said.

When they entered Jamilla's room, Emily saw her on the bed as if she was sleeping.

"Jamilla! What is going on?" She then noticed Jamilla holding the amulet of Isis on her hands.

"Emily, it is okay, trust Sheteptawy."Amun said as stood next to her on the edge of the bed.

Emily turned to Hoch, "I don't know if I am comfortable with all of this."

The elderly man place a bag Emily hadn't seen him carrying on the table and opened it as he pulled out a headgear; she recognize it as the Ancient Crown of Upper and Lower Egypt – or known as the Pschent. It was a red Deshret Crown of Lower Egypt and the white Hedjet Crown of Upper Egypt. Sheteptawy reverently placed it on Amun's head as he bowed low.

He then asked Amun, "Where is the Book?"

"Declan and Jack has the Book."

Sheteptawy turned to them and asked if they could retrieve it from their children.

Hotch shook his head, "I don't know if Jack had it with him, I'll ask him."

"Me too." Emily said as the two went into Declan's room.

Jack was in there too.

"Hey, you two. Did Amun and Jamilla give you two a book? I mean two halves of a book?" Emily sat down on Declan's bed.

Declan nodded and went to his back pack and handed it to Emily, "He said the two halves should never be put together."

Jack nodded, "Yeah, that's what Jamilla said too." He reached into his overnight bag and pulled out the other half of the book and handed it to his father.

"Thanks guys, just stay here for a while, okay?" Emily nodded as she looked at the old book.

"Sure." Declan nodded happily as he and Jack returned to their video game.

Entering the other room, Emily and Hotch saw Amun had the amulet of Ra out as well as he held it out until it almost joined Jamilla's Isis amulet.

Sheteptawy saw the Book and began to chant in a strange language as he took the bottom half of the Book from Hotch and lay it near Jamilla, then continuing the chant, he took the top half of the Book and placed it on top of the other half and instantly a bright green light flashed and sparkled and Emily and Hotch saw the Book was now joined and the Book was now a whole Book. And both amulets were glowing as well.

Sheteptawy began to rock back and forth as he continued to chant.

"What is he saying?" Hotch whispered to Emily.

She shook her head, "I don't know, I've never heard of it before, probably some ancient Egyptian language…" Just as she said the last word, there was another flash of bright green light appeared from the Book and Amun fell to the ground as Emily rushed in to his side.

"Amun!" she shook him slightly. The double crown fell from his head.

Emily looked up at the old man, "What have you done to him?"She glared at him.

Sheteptawy leaned forward as he braced both hands for support, "I broke the curse and we have set Egypt to right again." He then bent down to retrieve the Crown and replaced it in the bag. Using two large linen cloths, he wrapped the Book which was once again split in two, separately as he put both halves in his bag as well.

Hotch had sat on the edge of the bed and was checking on Jamilla who was opening her eyes as well.

"Jamilla, are you all right?" Hotch asked her.

She nodded as she sat up, "Yes Mr. Hotchner. What is going on? All of a sudden I felt so tired just now and wanted to take a nap."

He nodded, "I'm glad, sweetie." He looked down at Emily and Amun who was sitting up by now.

"Wow, I felt so sleepy just now." Then he noticed he was in Jamilla's room and Emily and Hotch was also in the room. "What is going on? Why are you here? Why am I doing in here?"

"Amun, you don't remember what happened? Sheteptawy…"She looked up at the elderly man and realized he was gone!

Emily stood up and rushed out of the room and looked around the hallway, then down the stairs and out of the house, but no old man.

"That old man couldn't have walked that fast!" Emily looked around her neighborhood but there was no one about.

Sighing, she returned to her house and up the stairs.

Amun was sitting by Jamilla, they were talking to Hotch.

"Did you find him?" Hotch asked her.

She shook her head, "He just disappeared…just gone."

"Who are you talking about, Emily?" Amun looked up at her.

"There was an elderly man, Sheteptawy… he came here saying he was sent here by your mother to help you and Jamilla. He asked for the Book and put the Pschent, the…the double Crown of Egypt, on your head and then began to chant. And then this bright green light flashed and then Amun fell." Emily was waving her hands all over as she was talking.

"Sheteptawy?"Amun thought.

"Who is he? How did you know him?" Emily looked at him.

Amun shrugged, "His name sounds familiar and I don't remember any old man here, Emily. All I remember being was being sleepy and then nothing. And when I woke up, I am here in Jamilla's room."

Just then, Emily's cell phone buzzed, she pulled it out and saw that it was her mother, the Ambassador.

Stepping out of the room she answered it in the hallway.

"Mother?"

_Emily! I have great news! Noor and Hassan are all right!_

"They are? What happened?"

_Can you believe their jet crashed in some desert in Egypt and Hassan and Noor were the only ones alive? Some old tribal group saved them but they did not have any way to get a hold of the Egyptian authorities so they hiked in the desert for two days and a night before they came upon some village and thank goodness they have phones there._

Emily sighed with relief, "Well, I'm glad they're both fine and well."

_Me too. Emily, Noor will call as soon as she is released from the hospital; they're being treated for dehydration at the moment. How are the children?_

"They are fine, we're having a blast with them here."

_We? Who's we?_

"Declan and I, mother." She said quickly.

_Oh, I thought you…never mind...Anyways, I have to go, I'll call you sometime. Bye._

"Bye mother."But Elizabeth Prentiss had already ended the call.

Shaking her head, Emily walked back into the room and told them the good news.

Amun and Jamilla grinned widely, "That is very good news, Emily." Amun nodded. "I miss our mother and father."

"I do too." Jamilla said softly.

"Hey, you're going to see them soon."Emily assured them.

Declan and Jack came over and stood by the doorway, "Mom," Declan said. "Can we have something to eat? We're hungry."

Emily nodded, "Well, we were going to a restaurant and have lunch and then we have to do a special shopping."She smiled at Hotch.

"A special shopping? What is it?" Jamilla asked.

"Oh, you guys will see when we get there but first how about lunch first?" Hotch said as they stood up and left Jamilla's bedroom and walked down the stairs.

"Hotch, look!" Emily was looking at the back of her hand, the mark of Ra was gone, it was as if it had never been there at all.

Hotch looked at his hand and saw that the mark had also disappeared from his hand too.

…

"It's too big, Hotch." Emily said.

"No, it's not." He countered. "What do you think, Jamilla?" He looked at the little girl sitting beside him.

Casting a critical eye, Jamilla frowned, "It's too small. She should have a bigger one."

"You think so?" Hotch arched his brow, grinning.

Jamilla nodded, "My mother wears a very big one."

"Your mother is a princess, Jamilla." Emily pointed.

"Well, we have these selections…"the salesperson pulled out another black velvet tray and set it on the table.

Jack, Declan, and Amun leaned in and glanced at the tray she had brought out; it was the fifth tray.

Surprisingly, the three boys pointed at one in particular, "This one, try it on." They said at the same time.

Emily looked at them with a skeptical look and glanced down and almost choked, "Guys! I can't …this is too big! He can't afford it!"

Hotch placed his hand on Emily's and said, "Em, just try it, I like it too. Please?"

The salesperson took it out and handed it to Emily but Hotch took it from her and taking Emily's hand, he slid it into Emily's finger and grinned.

"It fits perfectly. As if it's made for you." The sales person said as she smiled at them. "We usually have to resize our rings to fit."

"Do you like it, Emily?" Hotch looked at her softly.

Emily, her throat was clogged with emotion, "I…like it but I have to think about it." She removed the ring and sat it down on the tray.

"I like it Mr. Hotchner." Jamilla. "I think you should buy it.

Hotch frowned as he watched Emily, "Yeah but she is still hesitant." She had stood up and walked away from the table.

"What is hes..?" Jamilla began.

"Never mind, Jamilla. She is still not sure."

"Why is Emily sad?" Jamilla asked again.

Hotch looked at the little girl and smiled at her, "Sometimes adult needs to be nudged."

Jamilla frowned, "I do not understand what you mean, Mr. Hotchner."

"It's okay, Jamilla. One day you will."

The sales person spoke up, "Should I get the account changed and refigure the amount owed, Mr. Hotchner?" He nodded. "By the way, you two have such adorable children!" She smiled as moved away.

Hotch smiled at them, "Yes I do." He looked at them and then at Emily who was not looking at him. "We do."

….

Three days later, the civil unrest in Egypt has ended.

The call for the President to step down had backed off too. The militant groups had been rounded and arrested.

There was still no sign Anwar Fayad.

Prince Hassan and Princess Noor came back to America to pick up their children from Emily's house.

Amun and Jamilla were thrilled and excited as they received their parents at Emily's house.

Hassan was grateful to Emily and Hotch for the care and protection they provided for their children.

As for whom Sheteptawy was, they did not know who he was. Noor did not know what Emily and Hotch meant. Noor told Emily that she did not tell this Sheteptawy to come see Emily.

Although Hassan pointed out that the man's name, Sheteptawy meant 'he who pacified two lands.'

He was a mystery and whoever he was, he had really saved Egypt and lifted the curse.

The danger was over. The children were able to go home.

Emily was sad to see them leave as she had come to love them just as if they were her own, they promised to stay in touch when they left.

Things settled down once they were gone. Emily and Declan continued to close their house and move to their temporary apartment.

But there were some last minute adjustments to be done and arrangements.

…

In the warehouse of the Museum in Cairo, Egypt –

The newly appointed Director was making his rounds in the museum to make sure everything was in order before the Museum was to open for the first time the next day since the civil unrest.

He had heard there were some strange things that had gone on within the museum from one of the guards but he didn't believed such supernatural happenings as he was a man of science; he walked from one room to another and when he came upon the famous room of the God of Ra he was in awed of the opulent of the display the room was showing; it was the largest and most popular in the whole of the museum; the most prominent of it was the two twin pedestal glass enclosures; The Book of the Dead.

It was rumored that this book was split in half as it was now displayed in its individual pedestal. The top half of the Book with its mystical hieroglyphic symbols which was translated by an ancient scribe as 'the book of emerging forth into the Light', while the bottom half of the Book was laying on the other enclosed pedestal. The opening page of the second half of the Book, it was translated was a spell of warning, telling all to not bind the Book together or a terrible curse would begin into the Land of _Misr_ or the two Straits - lower Egypt and Upper Egypt.

Next to the twin pedestals were another enclosed pedestals; two 3000 years finds; the amulets, one of Ra and another, the amulet of Isis. It was believed to be worn by the God of Ra and the Goddess of Isis respectively.

These items were donated by Prince Hassan's family who were descendents of Pharaoh Ramses I. As he was no longer a revered royal figure but only a respected one, he saw no need to keep the treasures his family had kept so many thousands of years, and like his grandfather, he thought, the people of Egypt should be enriched by the heritage of the history of his ancestors.

…..

Three weeks later, back in the large back yard of Dave Rossi's mansion –

There was a large gathering as another wedding was happening!

Actually we missed the beginning of the ceremony as we were in the middle of the dinner.

Hotch stood up and tapped his glass, it made a loud tinkling sound as everyone became quiet and looked at him expectantly.

"Thank you everyone for coming to this very happy occasion. I could not have been more thrilled to be here as Dave's best man.

"I've known Dave for over…oh...20 fantastic years although he would not admit to being that old."

"Hey, I'm not tha..t old! I'm only in my …oh hell I'm not saying how old I am!" Dave exclaimed.

Laughter.

"I won't bore you all with long winded toast but here's to my best friend, Dave Rossi!"

Everyone raised their glasses and toasted to him.

Hotch remained standing as he had his glass still up, "And to my surprise, the bride," he arched his brow at her. "Erin, what can I say? Can you imagine our surprises when you two came back from Dave's book tour announcing that you had gotten hitched in Italy?"

Everyone laughed.

"Come on, Erin, how could you have kept this all these years?" Hotch shook his head dramatically. "But I'll spare you the embarrassment, to Erin, may you two have many wonderful wedded bliss and have mercy on our souls!"

Everyone laughed as they toasted to the blushing couple as Hotch sat down.

After a fine wedding dinner feasting, everyone went to the dance floor as Dave and Erin led the first dance.

Derek stood before Hotch and grinned at him, "So, when is it your turn, Hotch?" he glance over at Emily who was talking to JJ and Garcia.

Hotch shook his head, "I don't know Derek, she's leaving for London tomorrow."

Derek frowned, "But Hotch! I thought you two …I mean you broke off with Beth three weeks ago and you've going out with her?"

"I know and I even bought the ring."

Both brows arched high, Derek looked him, "You bought the ring? Man, does she know you're serious?"

Hotch nodded, "And I'm looking at a larger house. For the two boys and two of us."

Derek whistled, "Man you're serious!"

"I am, I really love her."

"Who loves her?" Reid came over and stood near Hotch.

Derek clapped Reid's shoulder and grinned, "Reid, Hotch has done the deed and Em wants nothing to do with him." He stared laughing at him.

Reid looked at Hotch, "Done what deed? And why doesn't Emily want Hotch for it? For what?"

Hotch frowned at the young man, "You know I have a very young lady I think you two should meet and I think you'll hit it off famously."

"Oh? Who is it?" Reid perked up.

Hotch shook his head, "Never mind." He turned back to Derek. "I don't know what to do." He then looked over to Emily.

"Why don't you ask her again?" Derek suggested.

"She keeps avoiding me." He shook his head.

Frowning, Derek said, "Come on man, let's go and you can talk to her." He grabbed his arm and began pushing him.

"Derek!" Hotch tried to push him away. "Stop!" Reid followed them.

But they had approached the ladies by then.

"Em, Hotch wants to ask you something." Derek said, grinning as he nudged at him.

Garcia and JJ watched Hotch expectantly.

"Privately." Derek said as he began to hustle the rest of them away.

Emily smiled uncertainly at Hotch as they watched the BAU team walked to the dance floor as Reid danced with JJ and Morgan sashayed with Garcia.

Hotch and Emily looked at each other.

"That was a nice toast, Hotch." Emily said.

He nodded, "It was short and to the point, just what he wanted."

"They look good together."

Emily nodded, "Yeah, they do."

And they stood in silent for a while.

Hotch looked over to where Derek was dancing with Garcia, he was waving at him, signaling him to get to talking to her.

Hotch nodded and looked at Emily, "Emily…I…"

Emily looked at him, "Hotch, if this is about the ring… I hope you didn't buy it because I can't…I mean I'm leaving for London. The house is sold and all."

"Emily, when are you ever going to call me Aaron?"

She snapped her head at him, "Not this again, Hotch! We're not talking about it. We're talking about the ring and I…"

Hotch stepped close to her and grabbing the back of her neck and pulled her close he kissed her, effectively shutting her up.

Emily softened at his kiss and responded and suddenly she opened her eyes and pushed away from him and looked wide eyed at him and shook her head, "I can't, Hotch!" she walked away in a hurry,

He looked after her, and said sadly, "It's Aaron, Emily." As he watched her walked out with Declan.

…..

End of Chapter 10


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry about not posting yesterday! It's my birthday! Thought I'd give myself a day off! And thanks to LovelyJA, AlliedDJ, and Lexis4MorganPrentiss for my birthday wishes! A real cute little Prince! ;) **

**.**

BAU: The Book of the Dead – Chapter 11

.

"Mom?" Declan was nudging Emily's elbow.

"Yeah kid?" She muttered. Emily was trying to settle in her seat in the economy class as her son was sitting next to her in the window sear, his face almost pressed against the Plexiglas panel of semi-oval window. She was glad no one was on the other side of the seat, she was able to stretch out a bit for the long 10 hour flight back to London.

Emily was tired; she couldn't sleep the night before as she tossed and turned all night since she left the party abruptly.

She spent all night feeling uneasy as she had expected Hotch to show up in the apartment and when he didn't, she was disappointed. When morning came, she was not ready to move out of bed but Declan's enthusiasms made her moved out of bed and gotten ready for their departure.

"Look why are there so many vehicles down there and all those people coming up? Hey, they look familiar… Wonder what is going on?" He was craning his neck to look down and about in the small and limited window.

"It's probably nothing, son." She mumbled. "How about letting me have a little shut eye?"

Glad to hear Declan had settled down in his seat and the plane finally began to roll out of the tarmac and onto the runway, Emily tried to concentrate on her forthcoming journey home.

Just as she was almost relaxed and asleep when she heard quite a bit of commotion in the front of the plane; someone had moved into the seat next to her; _drat!_ She thought, now she couldn't stretch out like she had planned.

The flight she'd booked for the morning departure had not been packed, in fact it was almost empty which was fine with her! Much quiet for the duration, so she could sleep the rest of the way.

But she could hear that whoever they had let in was not going to be so.

Emily figured there were more than two or three people had boarded at the last minute. She just hoped they would settle down soon.

"Sir," Emily heard the flight attendant coming up. "Let me help you with the baggage up in the compartment. And you need to buckle up, I'll help you with your son."

She heard a masculine thanks and then suddenly she felt rude shove and hard nudge as the passenger had sat down suddenly and shove her in her seat.

Grunting, Emily moved away from her seat as she tried to squeeze from the passenger and leaned towards Declan.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hit you."

Emily frowned as she slowly turned her head up as she recognized that voice!

"Hotch?" Emily turned to look at her fellow passenger and almost squealed out loud!

"What are you doing here?" She was smiling widely.

Declan was also grinning as leaned forward to wave happily at Jack who was sitting across from them in the other side of aisle.

Hotch smiling and his dimples deepened, "After you left last night, I had a long lecture from Derek, JJ, Garcia, and Dave as well as Erin." He chuckled. "It was a brutal and the ugliest set down I've ever received. They told me that they were not going to talk to me ever if I don't go after you."

Emily grinned. "And then?"

But they were interrupted by the announcement from the pilot that they were about to take off.

Sitting back and Hotch held Emily's hand as the commercial plane rolled out onto the runway and took off.

Declan and Jack were grinning happily and excited.

Emily then turned back to Hotch, "So, what happened?"

"Derek was angry I let you leave, as did Garcia. They wanted to follow after you but I told them not to."

Emily nodded. "Yeah, I'd have run them over."

Hotch arched his brow, "You would? Funny, that's what I told them you would have done too."

She chuckled, "What else?"

"Hmm…let's see, JJ threatened to give me all the bad files to work on for the next six months, Garcia threatened to freeze my financial accounts except purchases pertaining to Jack."

Emily giggled.

Hotch glared at her, "It's not funny, Emily. I can't even buy a damn cup of coffee this morning. I had to beg from Dave." He shook his head.

"Dave? I thought gone on to his honeymoon?" Emily's grin faltered.

Hotch shook his head, "Erin had an emergency staff meeting."

"Oh, guess the husband has to stay behind and wait for the wife." She snickered."

"No, the husband is not waiting." Suddenly Dave's head appeared on her left above Hotch's head.

Emily sat up, her eyes widened, "Dave! What are you doing here?"

"Making sure Romeo here doesn't muddle up again." He pointed at Hotch who rolled his eyes up.

Declan was looking at Dave and was laughing at him. "Hi, Mr. Dave."

"Hey Kiddo." He greeted him grinning.

"Okay, what exactly is going on?" Emily was looking at Hotch.

Picking her hand up, Hotch looked up at her, "Emily, I can't let you go back to London, back to INTERPOL."

"But…"

Hotch held his other hand up, "No. I'm not done yet. And according to the team, wait…" he retrieved a piece of paper from his breast pocket from his shirt and shook it loose. "Okay, here it is. I am to tell you and admit to you that I was foolish and I was wrong."

Emily smiled shyly as she nodded.

"I'm not done, sweetheart."

Emily grinned widely at his endearment.

Declan unhooked his seatbelt and stood up with his 3DS and pointed at Jack, "Mom, can I sit with Jack? I can't hear with you all talking."

Emily nodded as she leaned back as well as Hotch, letting Declan through; he muttered as he went by them…_they are always acting so strange and crazy._

Emily shook her head and returned her gaze at Hotch, "Carry on."

Hotch nodded, "I have to promise you that I am not to be always…so argumentative." He frowned. "I'm not always that bad…"

Emily arched her brows.

He sighed.

"What else?" She grinned. "I like this list."

"I bet you do." He muttered as he held it. "Okay now, next one … be humble? Who put this?" He looked up.

"I did!" Garcia's head shot up in front them.

Emily's shock expression changed to laughter as she looked at her, "Oh my god! Are you guys all here?"

In answering, Derek, Reid, JJ stood up and greeted her cheerfully.

Emily laughed happily. "Oh shit!" She covered her mouth instantly as she blushed.

They laughed and then sat down again as the flight attendant came to tell them that there were other passengers that would like to some peace and quiet.

They sat down in their respective seats as Hotch continued his list, "As you can see, I didn't put this down, they did as they were listing my flaws on why you didn't want to marry me."

"Hotch, I…it's not that…"

He shook his head, "Emily, why can't you call me Aaron?"

"I…you…because." She sat back on her seat and staid mum.

He leaned forward and looked at her, "Why? Emily?"

She looked at him and finally said, "Because you're Hotch to me."

He frowned, "I don't get it."

"Aaron is like a foreign name, I'm not use to it. Hotch is more personal to me."

He shook his head, "You're wrong, Em. Aaron is my name and I'd rather you call me that, please."

She closed her eyes, "Aaron."

He smiled, "There, no lightning strikes." He smiled.

She smiled as she leaned into his shoulder as he closed his eyes, "I love you."

"Can we start?" Garcia broke in.

Hotch and Emily looked up at her as Emily frowned, "Start?"

Hotch pulled out the small black velvet box and handed it to her.

Emily looked at it and looked up at Hotch, "It's not what I think it is?"

He nodded, "The one and the same."

"But I thought you couldn't afford it? I mean it's a 3 carat yellow diamond ring, Hotch! I mean Aaron!" She blushed.

"Well, funny you should mention it, I didn't have to pay for it"

Emily frowned, "I don't understand?"

He produced another similar small black box and opened it and showed it to her; it was a man's wedding band with a smaller yellow diamond set in a platinum thicker band.

"This is a wedding present from the Prince and Princess of Egypt and their children. Apparently Amun and Jamilla told their parents about our wedding and that they wanted to present us these gifts as a token of their appreciation."

Emily's eyes misted as she was speechless.

"And," Hotch added. "The pilot of your flight happens to be also an ordained minister on the side and he had graciously and kindly agreed to marry us if it's okay with you?" He lifted her chin gently with his finger and kissed her gently.

She looked at him and nodded.

Hotch grinned as he stood up but forgotten he was stuck in his seat as he unbuckled and Emily did the same as they stood at the same time and walked out into the aisle.

Declan and Jack were grinning at them as they giggled; Jack had told the older boy what was happening.

JJ and Garcia hustled Emily into the back of the plane while Derek and Reid grabbed Hotch and pushed him to the front of the aisle.

The rest of the passengers were wondering what was going on as they raised their heads about.

Dave had gone up to the front and spoke to the flight attendant before he moved to the back of the plane and disappeared behind the curtain.

A few minutes later, the happy pilot came out and stood in the aisle and picked up a microphone making an announcement;

_Ladies and gentlemen…and kids_; he grinned at Declan and Jack.

_Normally, as an airline pilot, we do not have any empowerment to marry anyone unlike our seafaring counterparts who are able to marry at sea. But as it is I am also an ordained minister of the good Lord so I am able to marry these good people legally or they'll be in a load of trouble when about nine months later, junior pops up!_

Everyone else except the boys laughed who were standing on either side of Hotch near the pilot.

He chuckled at his own humor, "Shall we begin?" Derek, squeezing with Reid in the aisle nodded as he turned around and whistled all the way to the back.

"Let's go, Pen! JJ!"

Garcia peeked around a curtain at the opposite end of the airplane and frowned, "Where's the music? Aren't we suppose to have the traditional bridal march?"

"Garcia!" JJ and Emily exclaimed from behind the curtain. "Just get on with it!" Emily yelled out.

Then a male passenger stood up, "Um, if you, I would like to sing for the bride?" he was tall and slim with a head full of curly brown hair. "I'm a lead singer and I ..sing for a group and…well here goes…" he cleared his throat and began.

…_Feeling my hands__start__shaking__  
Hearing your voice I'm overjoyed__  
I'm sorry but I have_ _no choice__  
Cause you're only getting bitter__  
Maybe you have your reasons__  
Maybe you're scared you'll be let down__  
Are you crying when there's no one around_

Garcia, smiling at the young man, began to walk down the aircraft aisle until she stood next to Derek.

…_.__Then maybe, maybe let me hold you Baby,__  
Let me come over I will tell you secrets nobody knows__  
I cannot over state it I will be overjoyed_

JJ walked down the aisle until she stood next to Reid and turned and looked down the aisle expectantly.

At this point, Dave standing Emily began to walk down as the young man sang the last part of the song

"…_.__I cannot over state it I will be overjoyed__  
Let me hold you Baby, let me come over__  
I will tell you secrets nobody knows__  
I cannot over state it I will be overjoyed__  
I will be overjoyed__  
I will be overjoyed…"_

The pilot grinned, "Excellent! Thank you young man, that was a wonderful impromptu song." he nodded as he took his seat. "Ah, and are you authorized to give the bride away?"

Dave nodded as he handed Emily to Hotch, kissing her on her cheek.

The pilot nodded as he smiled and continued, "Excellent, now we come to the exciting part of the ceremony…huh, well I'm afraid I don't have your names?"

Garcia handed the pilot her tablet, "Oh, well..technology! Excellent, we can officially begin."

Hotch and Emily exchanged looks as they held hands, their smiles were wide.

"Dearly aerial passengers and friends and family, we are gathered here in this confine space to witness the marriage of two fine people here today whom I find are unique individuals. For them to arrange such an unusual wedding and to have them with their friends and family, I am delighted and honored to be able to share with them.

"Well, I won't prolong this ceremony as I have to get back to the cockpit or my co-pilot will certainly re-route us to Tahiti or Egypt!" he laughed heartily.

But Emily and Hotch raising their brows didn't and hoped he didn't do the latter!

"Do you, Emily Prentiss, take Aaron Hotchner as your lawfully wedded husband and according to God's holy degree, do you promise to cherish and love him, for better or for worse, in sickness or health and…" he frowned and paused as he looked closely at the tablet and looked at them, "Are you sure you want me to say these words?"

Hotch nodded, "Yes sir."

Emily tilted her head in puzzlement.

The pilot shook his head, "Most unusual but, in sickness or in health and in injury or being shot."

The BAU team laughed.

The pilot shook his head, "I don't understand…?"

"We're law enforcement, Capt. Hellman. " Hotch explained. "We're FBI agents."

The pilot smiled happily. "Well then, that explains it! Well, young lady?" He looked at Emily.

Emily looked at Hotch and smiled, "I do, Hotch." She said cheekily.

Hotch dimpled deeply as he shook his head, "It's Aaron."

The pilot repeated his words with Hotch as he nodded and said, "I do, Prentiss."

She chuckled.

The pilot frowned at them, "Well…It's my pleasure, I think."

Emily and Hotch looked at him and nodded enthusiastically.

Captain finally smiled, "Excellent! I now pronounced you man and wife! You may kiss your bride! And may God help us all!" He shook his head as he laughed.

…..

End of Chapter 11

**Song is from MatchBox Twenty 'OverJoyed'**

.


	12. Chapter 12

BAU: The Book of the Dead –

.

"Reassigned!" Hale Reilly was standing by his desk in his office, he was running his hand over his bald head. Emily was sitting on a chair across from him.

"You did receive the necessary paperwork?" She arched a brow at him.

"Oh yes, all the 'i's and't's are dotted and dashed. Yes, yes, yes, but what does that leave me, Emily?"

She shrugged, "You'll find another agent soon, and if I know you better and I do, you've got one lined up already to take my place, Hally."

He snapped his head up from the documents he was frowning at, "Don't call me that, Agent Prentiss."

Emily shook her head, "Oh no you don't, Hale. Quit pouting like a five year old. Your mother is not here to console you."

He began to sputter, "I…I…you are out of line!"

She grinned, "Get that knickers unbunch down the crack of your butt, will ya?"

He took several deep breaths as he was turning red, "You are really going to be the death of me, Emmy."

She chuckled, "You know you've become a great friend to me, Hally."

He looked at her for a moment and nodded. Then he saw her hand, "I see you'd gotten hitched while you were there too. Aaron Hotchner?"

She smiled widely as she nodded, "I did."

"He better treat you right or he'd have to answer to me and the INTERPOL."

Emily arched her brow, "Hally…Aaron means a lot to me. I've told you about him."

He nodded; he knew about Aaron 'Hotch' Hotchner. They had spent hours in their early years when she was in the BAU and he was still with the INTERPOL and running in the fields, they'd talk long hours; she would tell him about Hotch while he'd told her about his now happily married wife, Chelsea.

"Does he know about your little foreign object still inside you and so close to your ticker?"

Emily glared at him, "No he doesn't." She touched her wound in her chest unconsciously.

"And are you going to tell him eventually? Emmy, he has a right to know."

She nodded, "I know and I have an appointment at Johns Hopkins. If they can't get it out, I'm SOL."

Staring at her in horror, "Emmy! Let's not get hasty! I'm sure with the technology, there's a solution."

"Hally, if the doctors here can't get it out, what makes you think the ones across the pond could?"

"Because the American doctors are much more technologically advanced." He grudgingly admitted.

Emily chuckled, "I love that you have so much faith in them."

"And you don't?"

She shrugged again as she stood up, "We'll see, Hally. I have to go. Our flight is leaving later today."

"So soon?"

She nodded, "The team has a case. And I have to get my things set up at the Academy. And Declan sort out and Jack too."

"Jack? Who's Jack?"

Emily arched her brow, "Aaron's son, from his first marriage."

"Oh yes. I remember now." He nodded.

"Keep in touch, Hally."

He stood up and came around and enveloped her in his embrace, "Yes we will, Emmy. Chels sends her love and Mummy too."

She laughed as she pulled away from him, "Your mother didn't say that and you know it, she tolerates me."

Hally grinned, "Oh all right, you're right. But she doesn't like many people so you're considered acceptable in the family."

"I'm honored. So, who's my replacement?" She grinned.

He gave a start, "How …how did you know?"

"Hally, I know you. You always have a backup plan."

He grinned sheepishly, "Well, he was formerly from MI-5."

Emily perked up, "Damn Hally, one of Harry Pearce's boys?"

He nodded, "Oh yes, and Harry is not happy about it at all but he is the best in the field and -5 is not utilizing him much…so here he is."

"Oh? So I know him?" Emily asked him as she stood by the door.

"You've met him a few times, Lucas North. A really good chap and excellent field agent with great leadership qualities. Very highly recommended."

Emily smiled, "Oh, Lucas. Yes I know him. You are right, he is a very good field agent."

Just then, a knock on the door sounded.

Emily opened and saw that it was former MI-5 officer Lucas North.

He looked at her in surprise, "Emily! What a surprise!"

She grinned, "Hi Lucas, how are ya?"

"I'm fine…are you…?" He wore a confused look as he looked from Hale to Emily and back again.

"Mr. North, come on in, if you please." Hale waved him in.

Lucas nodded as he walked into the office and stood before Hale.

"Emily, I'll see you around sometime?" Hale said, his voice had changed to sound official.

Emily shook her head as she grinned at him, "I'll see you too. Take care, Hale. Lucas, a pleasure to meet you again, take care of my team."

Lucas gave her another confused look and nod before he waved at her uncertainly.

"Lucas, have a seat…" Hale offered as he too sat down at his desk.

Emily smiled as she closed the door to his office and walked away.

…..

Later, back at the apartment after Declan and Jack had settled down for the night, Emily and Hotch were in their bedroom.

Emily removed a large envelope from a dresser and held it in front of her as she sat down on the edge of the bed.

"What's this, Em?" Hotch glanced at the familiar enveloped and then at her.

"Aaron, I need you to listen to me about what happened four months ago when I was in Afghanistan."

Hotch frowned, "Why? I'm not going to like it, am I?"

She shook her head, "Just listen, okay?"

He nodded, "Okay, I'm listening."

"We, the British intelligence, received a hot intel that a new Al Qaeda leader had emerged in Afghanistan and he was raising an army and a _Haji_. Mahmood was his name and many began to revered him and called him the next Usama bin Laden. We were supposed to get more evidences about Mahmood before we arrest him when he bombed the British Embassy in Cameroon. He claimed it."

Hotch nodded, "Yeah, I heard about it."

"Mahmood sent a video out, he had captured the British Ambassador's son. He was 17 years old."

"Was?" Hotch asked.

Emily nodded, "That's not it, they had killed our interpreter and five of our NATO troops. We needed to rescue him fast as the deadline was sunrise, and we had only five hours. I had flown to Afghanistan for a different matter when they called me to help in negotiating the release of the young man, Benjamin Wellers. It was no problem as I was surrounded by two squad of NATO troops.

"But we were ambushed and Al Qaeda was all over us and shot several of our troops, only ten NATO troops and I made it out barely with Ben but we did kill a whole bunch of Al Qaeda in the process. It was a long gun fight, Aaron."She said quietly as she recalled the horrifying battle and remembering the deaths of the brave soldiers who tried to shield her and Ben.

"Finally, the Al Qaeda retreated, and NATO was jubilant as rescue choppers were on the way but I thought it was strange they had retreated so easily and so fast."

Hotch nodded at her, "You have a mole inside."

Emily nodded, "Yes. It was Ben himself. He was actually not Ben anymore but had converted to Waqas or Warrior. He was in college and met a group of radical Muslims and decided to convert."

"That is not good, did his family know about it?" Hotch asked her.

Emily shook her head, "No, and that was what set it off because his parents did not pay any attention to him at all so he took up religion of his choice to get his parents' attention.

Hotch nodded as he frowned, "And you figured him out?"

"Yeah, he didn't show any fear throughout the whole ordeal and when I called him Ben or Benjamin, he wouldn't acknowledge me. And then he took Lt Pierpoint's gun and pointed it at me, he didn't show any remorse and again no fear."

Hotch arched his brow at her.

"And he shot me point blank."

"Emily!" Hotch grabbed her hand instantly, "I didn't know!"

She shook her head and laughed harshly, "Don't worry, Aaron. I realized his intent although in was too late, I did shoot him back, emptied my cartridge. I don't think he got his 92 virgins wherever he went."

"Sweetheart, how could you joke? You almost died…again." He faltered."

Emily nodded, "I did, Capt Pierpont shot him too and performed CPR on me but he said my heart arrested twice as medicvac evac us to base and then we were airlifted to Ramstein, Germany Air Base where the British military had a joined air base with the United States counterpart. I spent a week there in the hospital intensive unit before they declared I was fit to be shipped back to London.

"The doctors said the bullet was lodged too closely to the aorta and it's right next to the heart. If they extract it, it'll kill me instantly." She then pulled the X-ray chart out of the envelope and showed it to him.

The small bullet was clearly visible on the X-ray and her heart.

"I have an appointment with Johns Hopkins next week. There is a cardio doctor who might be able to do this surgery but it's very risky. Survival rate is less than 2%."

Hotch closed his eyes for a moment before he opened it again, "2% is better than nothing, Em. I'll be there for you."

"Aaron, you and the team have a case in Detroit when we return."

He shook his head, "Don't worry about the team. You and I are a team, I'll not let you do this by yourself."

Setting the X-ray aside, Emily scooted up until she lay on his chest, "I hope you'll forgive me for not telling you before we marry."

He shook his head, "There's nothing to forgive, Em. I wouldn't have had it any other way." He gathered her closed to him. "We'll get it out of you, Sweet heart."

She nodded as she stared at the X-ray.

…

Three days later, back in Virginia at a lawyer's office.

"You are worth how much?" Hotch looked at her incredulously.

She grinned, "Quite a bit."

"How?

"Inheritances from both grandparents and two sets of god parents who didn't have kids and some sound investments." She shrugged.

Hotch was still stunned, "But I…you're signing them…Em...you cannot…Declan should get it as he's your son."

She shook her head and looked at her lawyer, "Mr. Boone knows you're an FBI agent and he'd done a thorough back ground check on you, sorry Aaron." He shook his head. " And he deems you worthy and trustworthy to benefit all my inheritance and that you have agreed to adopt Declan. And should something happen to me, you will be the sole provider for him until he turns 18 and he'll inherit a portion of my will. You will have 70% of my will while Jack will inherit 15% upon his majority unless you decide to be generous." She grinned.

Hotch shook his head, "I cannot accept this Emily."

Emily frowned, "Aaron, if you don't, the State of Virginia will take all of it, Declan will have nothing, you and Jack will have nothing either, right Mr. Boone?"

The lawyer nodded, "Yes, Miss. Prentiss…or is it Mrs. Hotchner?"

She nodded, "It's still Agent Prentiss for now, we haven't decided on my last name."

Hotch sighed and looked at her, "Okay, I'll sign, provided you change your name."

She snapped her head, "What?"

He grinned, "Hotchner or I won't sign."

She glared at him, "Hotch! I can't believe you're blackmailing me!"

He leaned back on his chair and looked at the lawyer who kept a neutral expression as he watched them

"Sweet heart, you're doing it again, it's Aaron. Aaron Hotchner. And you are and will be Emily Hotchner or I won't sign. I guess the State of Virginia will get almost 2.5 million dollars after tax."

She frowned at him darkly as she muttered, "Not fair, bloody not fair at all."

He grinned, "You're sounding like a Brit, oh dear me."

"Damn you, Hotch."

"It's Aaron."

…

Two weeks later, at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland –

Emily was laying in the hospital bed, being prepped for surgery, Hotch and the BAU team, Declan and Jack were at the patient's waiting room.

Hotch held Emily's hand, "Em, when you come out, I'm putting your rings back on your finger." He leaned in and kissed her gently.

She nodded sleepily, "Those big large, gigantic …rocks…Aaron…love you."

He grinned, "I love you too, sweet heart."

"Mommy…I love you." Declan leaned in and kissed her on her cheek.

She smiled goofily, "Hey kid, I love you…I'll see you in a bit…we're gonna have pizza and nuts with Mack, 'memba?" he looked at her confusingly.

"I love you, Emily." Jack kissed her too.

"Love you, Mack…we're gonna get maggots with ice cream."

The team grimaced as they laughed, "Em, take care." Garcia kissed her forehead, stay strong love." She teared. "Oh my god, I can't take it! And she's not gone in yet!" Derek held her.

Derek, "Hey, we're here for you, come out without that damn bullet inside."

She grinned and nodded, her eyes drooping heavily, "Yesh, the bull letting high."

Hotch shook his head, "She is really drugged."

JJ leaned forward as she kissed her fore head too, "Em, we're praying for you. Get out alive this time." She swallowed hard as she stepped away.

Dave kissed her quickly, "Cara, we're here all the way with you, Erin says if you don't come back, she'll come after you and pull your badge so fast you don't know what had hit you."

She tried to smile but she had drifted off.

"Okay, time to get her down the ops room, we'll get her out in a jiff, it shouldn't take more than a couple of hours." The nurse said cheerfully. "We'll take good care of her. Let's go, Mrs. Prentiss-Hotchner."

The team looked at Hotch who shrugged, "She just won't give in and it's the best we can work out a compromise."

"It sounds good, really Mr. Prentiss-Hotchner," JJ teased him.

Hotch arched his brow at her, "It's Agent Hotchner to you."

"I guess I'll have to change my name…again." Declan looked at Jack.

The team watched her being wheeled to the operating room.

The team patted Hotch and Declan as they sat down and waited.

Six hours later, the team and the kids were still waiting...

….

End of Chapter 12


	13. Chapter 13

BAU: The Book of the Dead – Chapter 13

.

"Time of Death 3:13pm."

He took off his surgical mask, surgical cap, and latex gloves and walked out of the operating room.

It was not what he had expected as he paused before coming out of the operating room; he had extracted the bullet but what he didn't accounted for was the damage the bullet had done to the aorta and he and his crew didn't catch until he began closing the hole; the bullet had fragmented.

He had to open it again and dig up the artery and looked for the fragment.

He couldn't find it, not until she had stopped breathing, her heart had stopped beating and the blood had stopped flowing. They had seen to it that it was flushed out. It was such a tiny fragment, about the size of half of a rice grain. But it had done its damage.

Agent Emily Prentiss was gone.

Dr. Emile Haddad met her and found that he had liked her very much; she and her husband, also an FBI agent.

She was a hero in his heart; she had told him the circumstances of the wound and it was astonishing she had survived!

Emile had consulted and talked extensively with the military doctors that had operated on her in Germany. They had faxed him all her medical records and he had looked at them in details.

There was the risk factor, and she was aware of it, as did her husband.

Emile was at a lost; he was really confident he had won the battle, that he had extracted the bullet and saved a hero. He swallowed hard.

Now he had to walk out there and tell the bad news to her husband and children; her husband of less than one month. How tragic!

It was certainly not fair!

Turning his head up, he blinked his eyes a few times as he mentally invoked his God for strength; Apis.

"Apis, please give me your strength to tell this poor family of this tragic news, they did not deserve it. She had served so valiantly and honorably for her country." Then he removed a necklace from his neck and held it, "_Bas-Paf_, holder of souls, I pray you will guide the soul of this young lady and lead her to the path of her god and guide her way to the Afterlife safely until Anubis judge her. I only wish she would not die so soon." He bowed his head and then looking up, he put the necklace back into his shirt and walked out to the visitors lounge.

….

Hotch, Declan and Jack had fallen asleep in the visitors lounge;

_Emily was beckoning at them and wanted them to follow her._

_Hotch found that they were in a strange building; the walls were made of stone and decorated with paintings…hieroglyphic drawings! He recognized._

"_Dad! Let's go!" Declan was pulling Jack and his hand. "Mom is walking away from us, we must hurry!"_

_Hotch smiled, since when had Declan began to call him 'Dad'? It had a nice ring to it actually. Even though everyone knew who his real father was but it no long mattered. Ian Doyle didn't matter. He and Emily were now his parents._

_He now had two sons! Well, he and Emily._

"_Dad! Let's go, I can't see where Mom had gone!" Declan and Jack had run along the narrow corridor and rounded the corner and disappeared._

"_Wait!" Hotch yelled. "Stop guys! Slow down!" He began to jog along the corridor and when he turned the corner, he came to a stop suddenly to keep from running into the two boys who had stopped on their tracks and were staring at what was before them._

"_Guys, I wish you'd wa…" He stopped mid-speech as he followed their gazes and stared out in stunned surprise._

_The corridor opened to a wider room and in there, he saw there were six men in ancient white robes and they were chanting some ancient language just like the one when Sheteptawy had uttered when he came to break the curse._

_In fact, he recognized the old man in front of the group! He was holding the Book of the Dead; Hotch saw that the Book was fused in one instead of its usual two separate halves._

_Hotch began to move forward but something stopped him and he saw a metal spear across his chest and looked over and saw it was a guard who shook his head and held his hand out, indicating for him to not cross into the room._

"_Mom!" Jack yelled as he pointed and Hotch glanced out and saw Emily lying on the stone table._

_Her eyes were closed and her body was covered by a white linen cloth, although there was a gap where her heart was!_

"_Emily!" He yelled but there was no response._

_Sheteptawy looked up and stared at him and said, "She cannot hear you. She has gone to see Ba, the God of Death to be weighed." He then pointed at a set of scales and a figure with the head of the Jackal or the God Anubis was weighing her heart!_

_Sheteptawy was watching the process and explained to Hotch, "If Anubis finds her heart is heavier than the feather on the other scale, the God Aamut will eat her heart, and she will not be able to come back again._

"_If her heart is lighter than the feather, than she is reborn again."_

"_Reborn?" Hotch asked. "Will she come back as herself again?"_

_Sheteptawy turned to Anubis and the God shook his head. The old man looked at Hotch, "I'm afraid Anubis had not allowed it. Her heart has passed the scale and she will be reborn but…" He was abruptly interrupted by a loud gong and everyone, including Anubis bowed low as Amun Ra, the King of Gods appeared! He was a God with a falcon head and a large sun disk upon his head._

"_My God Amun Ra," Sheteptawy greeted him as he bowed low._

_Hotch could not hear what he said to the old man but he could see Sheteptawy nodded at him as Amun Ra picked up Emily's heart and placed it back into her chest and sealed it. And then he left!_

_Sheteptawy smiled as he looked at Hotch, "The God Amun Ra has favored her and she will live again. Awake...Agent Hotchner… Agent Hotchner, can you hear me? Agent Hotchner!..._

…..

"…Agent Hotchner…can you hear me?"

Hotch felt someone nudged his shoulder as he blinked his eyes opened and he jerked himself awake!

_What a dream! It was so real…Emily!_ He stood up and looked around and saw his team and Jack and Declan who were beginning to awaken. And Dr. Haddad…Emily's surgeon!

Hotch grabbed his shoulder, "Dr. Haddad! Emily…?"

Emile shook his head sorrowfully, "I'm sorry, Agent Hotchner…The bullet fragmented had streamlined into her blood."

Hotch paled, "NO!"

Everyone in the team began to cry as Derek held Garcia and Will LaMontagne held JJ tightly as she wept uncontrollably.

Declan looked at Hotch in confusion, "Dad…? I had a dream just now that we were in this weird place and Mom was lying dead and this weird man in a mask and an old man told you Mom is going to live. The weird man in the bird mask had a sun on its head told the old man Mom is going to live."

Jack stood next to Declan, "I have the same dream, Dad! There was a scale! There was a weird man in a bull mask, he put Emil's heart in it and the old man told you if Emily's heart was lighter than the feather, she will live but then another man in that bird mask with the sun on the head, he said Emily can come home."

Dr. Haddad narrowed his gaze at the kids and shook his head, "What are you all talking about?"

Hotch was watching Declan and Jack and turned to the surgeon, "I had a similar dream just now, I'm not sure. It seem so real…I …my boys and I were in ….I think we were in ancient Egypt and in some sort of burial chamber."

The surgeon arched his brow at him, "Really? Ancient Egypt? Have you and your sons been there recently?"

Hotch shook his head, "No, not at all."

"This is strange, very strange. Agent Hotchner, do you believe in coincidences?"

"What do you mean, Dr."

"I know I didn't tell Emily or you but I'm Egyptian by birth although I had lived here in Maryland almost all my life. One of my ancestors was believed to be the famous Sheteptawy, the great Priest of Pharaoh Ramses I." He said.

"I…"Hotch was about to ask if he could see Emily when one of the nurses came running.

Dr. Haddad turned to her, "What is it, Elise?"

"Dr. Haddad! You'd better get back, your patient…her heartbeat…it's beating again…"She ran back to the room

The surgeon held his hand out and touched Hotch, "Something's happening. I'll be right back!" He rushed off.

The BAU team gathered towards Hotch, "Hotch, what's going on?"Dave asked him.

JJ and Garcia were looking at him expectantly.

"I don't know what's going on, guys. The nurse came running yelling about her heart beating again. I don't know if they're talking about Em." Hotch sat down on the chair and rubbed his face.

_Was it a coincidence, what the doctor had revealed about his heritage? About this mysterious Sheteptawy? Was it even the same person they were talking about?_

…

Back in the operating room, Emile saw the activity and walked up to them and asked for the status on his patient.

His anesthesiologist told him that he was about to unhook the tubings from her when suddenly the monitor began to sound out its tell-tale beep and her heart began to beat, slowly at first but it began to regulate.

"What about the fragment in her bloodstream?"

One of his surgeons grinned within his mask as he held out a tiny piece, "It just came out while I was closing the sutures once we have heartbeat. Emile, this is short of a miracle, I can't even begin to wonder what to make of this whole thing!"

Emile shook his head, "Me neither, I am amazed myself." he thought of what Emily's family and children were telling him, of the strange dreams they had; all three of them? And of Egypt when they had never been there! How strange!

Concentrating on his patient at hand, he checked on her wounds and looked at her X-rays again and saw that everything looked satisfactory. "Very excellent, everyone, it seemed our patient will live a very long and fruitful life." The entire operating room clapped in unison.

"I'll inform the family of the glad tidings. Please move her into the intensive ward, Nurse Miles."

"I'll be more than happy to do so, Dr. Haddad."

He nodded as he left the operating room again, this time on a positive note.

Wearing a smile, he paused again as he thanked his gods mentally; _Thank you Apis! Thank you, Amun Ra for you grace, honor and protection._

As he opened the door leading to the lounge, he saw that Emily's family and friends were still standing and waiting expectantly.

He hurried towards them.

"Agent Hotchner, Emily is fine. It is a miracle I cannot even fathom." He grinned.

Hotch returned his smile and shook his hands gratefully, "Thank you Dr. Haddad. Thank you very much."

"As long as you keep her out of this field work, and not let her get shot anymore near her heart, she will live a very long life. "

"Can we see her?" Garcia asked him.

He nodded, "The nurse will come down and let you know, they're currently escorting her to the ICU now and as soon as she is settled, you'll be able to visit. I'll see her in the morning. Agent Hotchner…Emily…and I can't believe I'm saying this as I'm a man of science but I do believe she has a very powerful protector. I'll see her in the morning." He nodded at him and left, shaking his head as he went into the operating room.

Twenty minutes later, Hotch was permitted to be the first to see Emily;

He approached the bed gingerly and tentatively as a nurse was adjusting her tubings and wirings, she turned around and smiled at him, "It's okay, she's out of danger now which is a miracle I heard."

Hotch looked up at her, "What do you mean?" He knew and heard of her 'death' but he wanted to hear another account.

"Her heart had stopped beating for more than fifteen minutes, Dr. Haddad had done all he could," her head was shaking sadly. "He left the operating room to give you the bad news when we saw the old man."

"The old man?" Hotch frowned.

She nodded. "We were shocked as to how he had gotten access into the highly secure area and he was not …sanitized. But it was like we were hypnotized and we couldn't move! All we could do was observed him and let him walked around Agent Prentiss as he knew what he was doing and he began chanting some words we haven't heard."

Hotch was speechless.

The nurse continued as she went about her way around Emily's bed, "Then he waved his hand over Agent Prentiss' heart and all of a sudden it began to beat, a small pulse at first and then it became regular. We came out of our trance and began to check her vitals and before we realized what was going on, the old man had disappeared like poof! Into the thin air just like the way he had appeared. Everything about him was mysterious but whoever he is, I for one am glad as he saved your wife." She nodded at Hotch and left him alone with Emily.

Hotch followed her retreating back before he turned his attention to Emily and leaned down and kissed her lips gently. "I agree, I'm glad for Sheteptawy. He had made it possible for your return, Emily. I know I usually don't believe in such things but sweet heart, it's right before our eyes, and I can't deny it's mystery and power." He lifted her left hand and slipped her rings in and kissed her fingers.

Then he looked up to see Declan and Jack paused hesitantly by the doorway. Hotch nodded at them as he stepped back and let Declan leaned in and lay his head on her chest gently.

"Mommy, I'm glad you're back." He teared as he let them slipped onto her hospital gown.

Hotch looked away from him as he walked to the window and swallowed hard. _Yes, he was glad too._

Jack was standing on the other side of the bed and held her hand tenderly, "Emily, please wake up. Daddy and I and Declan miss you and we need you at home soon. Daddy says we're going to live in a bigger home and maybe we can have a puppy too."

Hotch looked at his son and smiled, "Jack, I don't think this is the right time to discuss about a pet."

"But Dad!" Jack looked at Hotch with a pleading face.

"Jack…"

"But!"

"…Jack…it's…fine…"the guys looked down at Emily as she uttered weakly.

Hotch had rushed towards near her anxiously, "Em!"

Emily, her eyes still closed, smiled softly as she squeezed Jack's hand, "We'll see… buddy."

Jack grinned happily as well as Declan as they looked at Hotch who shook his head in defeat.

"Okay, how about you guys wait outside and let the others in?"

They nodded, "Bye Mommy! I love you!" Declan called out softly.

"Bye Emily…Mom."

Emily frowned as she began to tear.

Hotch smiled gratefully at his son who had walked out by then as he grabbed a tissue nearby and wiped her tears gently.

"Hey, easy does it, that was nice of him." Hotch even teared a little at his son's gesture as his heart swelled up. Yet he hoped his son would never forget his mother's memories…

JJ and Garcia came in and stood by Emily's bed as Garcia said, "Hey Em, I'm so glad you made it! You've given us quite another scare! You really need to stop it, I don't think my heart can deal with it anymore." She wept again as she stepped back.

"Don't mind her, Emily."JJ looked at Emily's sleeping form. "You know how annoying she can be."Garcia exclaimed at JJ as she wiped her eyes. "Come on, Pen, let's get going before you flood her bed with your tears." JJ shook her head as she lowered her head and kissed Emily's forehead and said, "Hey, we have the annual FBI vs CIA long range target shooting competition coming up in six months, and you and I are still the reigning champs in the Bureau. Interested in keeping up with our reputation?" JJ grinned as she felt Emily tightened her hand. "Then you had better get better quick. I'll see you tomorrow."

Hotch shook his head as he smiled at the blonde agent who winked at him as they left.

Dave and Morgan came in next.

"_Cara_, you gave us such a fright!" Dave leaned in and said softly to her. "Let's hope Aaron ground you for the rest of your life from now onwards. No more field work for you, _bella_."

"I agree, ex-partner." Derek said worriedly. "I've never met anyone who had…died so many times in my life and came back to life again! You're like your cat! How many more lives do you have?"

"Morgan!"Hotch frowned at him.

"I agree with him, Aaron." Dave said. "She had died a couple of times already, I think it's time she stays on the ground."

Hotch nodded, "She's teaching classes at the Academy when she's on the mend."

The two men nodded, "Good." Dave said. "I'm glad for her, at least she is close to you."

Hotch nodded, "We just bought a larger house for the boys."

"Sounds like a permanent thing."Dave grinned.

"It is. And maybe down the road, more kids." Hotch smiled as he looked at Emily.

Morgan smiled as well, "You two are great parents already."

"Okay Derek, let's go."

Morgan nodded and left after they'd kissed Emily on her cheeks.

Reid and Will came in last as they stood by the edge of Emily's bed.

The former bit his lips as he hesitated, "Hey Em, I hope you …er…get better. I don't know what to say for things like this except to tell you that statistically and medically, the normal rate of healing for injuries such as yours are about 67% and up depends on your health and age and…"

"Reid…." Hotch cut in as Will stared at the young slim man rattled on.

Spencer looked up at him, "I…I ...know for a fact and it's according to the American Medical Journal Magazine I'd just read…"

"Reid!" Hotch raised his voice another notch and shook his head, "Shut up and get out."

"Man, he just read that magazine at the lounge and he's now quoting it," Will was shaking his head.

"He has an eidetic memory, Will." Hotch informed him. "Never let him near anything with prints on it or he'll turn into a monster."

Will chuckled, "Like Jekyll and Hyde?"

Hotch grinned, "Something like that but close enough."

Will nodded, "I'll take Dr. Jekyll out and hope I'll never see Mr. Hyde. Come on, Dr. J." Will urged him along as he held the door opened.

Reid looked on in confusion at Hotch, "You know the literature classics of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is fictional and I'm neither so I don't…."

"Get out of here, Reid."Hotch said wryly as he took a deep breath.

Then the door finally closed again and it was quiet, Hotch shook his head as he held Emily's hand, "And that is why we tolerate him. Em, I'm going now, you need to rest but I'll be back later. I love you, sweet heart." He kissed her tenderly on her lips and squeezing her hand left her room.

_And I love you, Hotch…Aaron!_

…..

End of Chapter 13


	14. Chapter 14

BAU: The Book of the Dead – Chapter 14

.

Epilogue –

"Let's go JJ!" Emily was cheering.

Taking aim at the target that was at the distance of 500 yards, JJ took a deep breath and held it and pulled the trigger.

It was quiet for one second and then there was a resounding shout all over the stand!

"We won!"

"Champion team goes to SSA Jennifer Jareau and SSAIC Emily Prentiss-Hotchner! Congratulations ladies, beating the CIA team."

The BAU team had rushed to congratulated JJ and Emily as they came down from the podium with their trophies.

"We did it again! Chicks rule!" Emily shouted.

The CIA agents were shaking their hands as they shook their heads walking away from the jubilant FBI group and their families.

It was the tenth annual friendly FBI vs CIA long range shooting competition. Emily and JJ had won three years consecutively and it had irked the CIA team which consisted of mainly men losing the shooting competition to two females from their rival agencies.

"Knew you two would not let us down," Derek patted their shoulders happily as he smiled happily.

"I'm glad it's you two and not me, I have been practicing hard but it's just not in me to …"Reid stopped as he realized no one was paying any attention to him anymore as they had drifted away. "I'll just um…walk to the tent…and…check on the …munitions…and…" he took a deep breath. "Then again, I'll wait for you guys in the car…" he shook his head and headed for the parking lot.

Emily frowned as she had her arms around Declan and felt her stomach roiling and her breakfast coming up…"I'll be right back." She rushed to the ladies' room.

Hotch and the team turned to watch after her, "Is she okay?" He asked as he walked towards the restroom.

JJ and Garcia went into the room.

"Em? Are you okay?" JJ peeked into the stalls and saw Emily's boots in front of a toilet bowl.

"Yeah! I think it must be something in the breakfast this morning. I…" She threw up again.

JJ arched her brow at Garcia as she gave her a knowing grin.

Garcia began to smile as her eyes widened behind her bright lime green plastic glasses.

A few minutes later, a very pale Emily came stumbling out and rinsed her mouth in the sink and gripped on the edge of the sink, "Oh God, I think the milk was spoiled…urgh…I hoped the boys are fine."

"Oh, Em…"JJ sang her name. "Did you miss something?"

Emily eyed at JJ peripherally and shook her head, "Miss what? Ooh…my stomach…" Her head was bent down.

"When was the last time you had your period?" Garcia stood on her other side and grinned happily and goofily.

Emily tilted her head at her, "I…Oh! I…No!...Oh…hell…bout two months ago! And I never missed my period! Do you …?" Emily's eyes widened and then she dashed back into the stall and threw up again. 'Oooh! Shit!"

JJ and Garcia began to laugh happily.

"It's not funny, you two!" Emily exclaimed from the stall and groaned loudly.

There were several knocks and concerned shouts, "Emily! Are you okay?" It was Hotch.

"Should we?" Garcia grinned as she held the door.

Emily came out again and nodded, "I'm fine. I'll tell him. I just hope I don't upchuck on him...although I don't think I have any in my stomach left." She cleared her throat. "Let's go, girls.

They nodded as they stood aside and allowed Emily to lead the way.

Hotch was standing right in front of the rest room door, looking concerned, "Em? Are you okay?"

She nodded as she slipped her hand through his hand and pulled him away, "Hotch…remember when we went to Cairo for our honeymoon two months' ago?"

Hotch nodded.

"And," She continued. "Remember when we left the boys with Hassan and Noor and their children?"

Hotch grinned, "Oh yeah, we got lost around the pyramids deliberately for three days." He squeezed her hand.

Emily nodded and smiled, "And…we slept under tent?"

He chuckled, "I'd never forget those nights."

She arched her brows and whispered, "And we forgot to pack the condoms…?"

Hotch suddenly looked at her, "Em! You mean? We…? You and I…."He began to grinned widely.

She nodded enthusiastically and laughed. "Yes! We are! Another addition, Hotch!"

He suddenly glare at her, "Why are you calling me Hotch again?"

Emily arched at him incredulously, "Oh my god, Ho…Aaron! It was a slip…I…it was ..you!" She smacked him on his arm when she realized he was grinning at her. "Aaron, for a moment I thought you were serious!"

He chuckled as he picked her up and swung her around a few times and held her close, "I don't want to hear you calling me 'Hotch' for a long time, Em.

She nodded, "I'll try to remember, Aaron."

He nodded, "So, how about a girl? I'd like a girl this time."

She grinned happily, "Me too but it's not up to us. Although if it's another boy, I'll name him Hotch." She looked at him seriously.

"Hah! No, you're not going to do such thing!" he narrowed his eyes at her and saw she was joking. "Emily!"

She giggled as she leaned down and laid her forehead on his shoulder. "No, Aaron, I wouldn't do that to you."

He closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of contentment, "I think I'd really like a girl."

She grinned and nodded, "I'd like that too."

The BAU team came over and saw them in an embrace.

"Jeez," Derek teased them, "Haven't you two had enough of each other?"

Hotch arched his brow at him, "Morgan, shut up and let me enjoy my wife before I can't hug her in eight months."

Morgan laughed and shook his head.

"I heard congratulations are in order?" Dave grinned as he clapped his hand on Hotch's shoulder.

Hotch separated from Emily and beamed happily, "Emily's late."

Declan and Jack frowned at her, "Late for what, Mom?"

"Yeah, are we late to go to somewhere?" Jack looked at Emily.

The adults laughed at them.

"Dec, Jack, how would you two like to be big brothers?" Hotch grinned at them.

Jack began to smile and turned to Emily, "You mean Emily is going to be a Mommy?"

Emily nodded at him.

He grinned as he walked to her and hugged her, "Cool, Emily."

"Thanks kid!" she said as she held him.

Declan also went to her and hugged her, "Is it going to be a girl or a boy?"

"I don't know, it's too early to tell, do you want a sister or another brother?" Emily asked him.

Declan tilted his head, thinking, "A sister," Then he shrugged and continued, "or a brother, it doesn't matter, Mom."

"Maybe Emily'll have two!" Jack exclaimed excitedly.

Emily and Hotch exchanged stunned looks. "Let's hope not!" They said in unison!"

…

THE END

**-Thank you everyone for reading this story! And to Lovelyja****, ****rmpcmfan, ****emilyhotchnerforever**** , AllieDJ, Guest Lilly, ****Clkaudia , Sarahb2007, You all have been so great in reviewing every chapter of this story! Thank you!**

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